MARIA SIBILLA MERIAN. 39 



but the manner in which they are represented to be 

 employed seems entirely fanciful, and probably sug- 

 gested by the idle stories of the natives. The prin- 

 cipal figures are those of the gigantic bird-spider 

 (My gale avicularia, Walck.), the hunting-spider 

 (Thmmsus venatorim^ Latr.), and parasol ant (For- 

 mica cephalotes, Fabr,) Of the former, one of the 

 figures is represented as destroying a humming-bird, 

 which it has just dragged from its nest ; and the other 

 as issuing from the huge cocoon of a kind of moth, 

 which it is asserted, without probability, to be in 

 the habit of adopting for its dwelling. As the story 

 of this spider devouring small birds seems to have 

 originated with Madam Merian, we shall translate 

 what she says on the subject ; and this account, along 

 with that of Formica cephalotes appended to it, may 

 be taken as an example of the descriptive portion 

 of her work. " I found," she says, " many large 

 dark coloured spiders on the guava tree (Psidium)^ 

 which take up their abode in the large cocoon of a 

 caterpillar; for they do not spin webs, as some 

 travellers have tried to make us believe. Their 

 bodies are entirely covered with hair, and they are 

 armed with long pointed teeth, with which they 

 bite severely, and inflict dangerous wounds by in- 

 jecting some kind of liquid. Their common food 

 is ants, which they capture with ease as they run 

 upon the trees ; for, like all other spiders, they are 

 furnished with eight eyes, two placed above and 

 two below, two on the right side, and a like number 



