24 BIRD-CATCHING SPIDER. 



losing no time in cutting the lines, allowed her 

 prisoner to fall to the ground." 



In a note the writer adds, "The only two 

 species of Humming-bird I have seen in the 

 vicinity of the Havana, are the TROCHILUS 

 PECTOEALIS and TROCHILTTS COLUBRIS of Dr. 

 Latham, now assigned to distinct genera the 

 former remaining all the year round, while the 

 latter appears only in winter. Both are strong 

 enough to burst three such nets as those of Ne- 

 phila clavipes; and in fact Trochilus pectoralis may 

 be seen at times to pick small flies out of them.'* 

 " Thus, then, I have proved," concludes Mr. 

 Macleay, " that the Mygale avicularia does not 

 catch birds any more than another spider, cele- 

 brated in one of our philosophical journals a few 

 years back, could ever have lived on arsenic or 

 corrosive sublimate ; and, although undoubtedly 

 there be more things on earth than are dreamt 

 of by our philosophy, I will even go so far as 

 to add my utter disbelief in the existence of any 

 bird-catching spider. I am fully sensible that 

 such a vermin, so interestingly disgusting, forms 

 a treasure too valuable in the eyes of mere 

 adepts in the free use of scissors and paste, for 

 me to be able to dislodge it from their affections, 

 when Langsdorff had already failed to break the 

 charm ; but however popularly pretty it may be 

 thus occasionally to wander into fancy's maze, 

 the dull, dry, unromantic naturalist must posi- 

 tively stick to the stubborn truth." 



