THE TARANTULAS 119 



ura, running half an inch, and even longer in the tropics. All the 

 North American species build thin webs on the ground, especially 

 in rocky situations, with the funnels hidden away in crevices. They 

 are all pale yellow or light brown, excepting those from Mexico, 

 which are mostly black. The male is remarkable in having the 

 tibia of its second legs much swollen and armed near the middle 

 with a heavy spur, which aids in holding the female during pairing. 



Tarantulas. Largest of all spiders are the immense hairy creatures 

 of the family Theraphosidae, which Americans call "tarantulas." 

 Although these mygalomorphs have nothing in common with the 

 wolf spider of southern Europe, which truly deserves the name 

 "tarantula," they have so completely usurped this appellation that 

 an attempt to change it would be futile. In most of Spanish Amer- 

 ica, the covering of hairs on the legs and bodies of these creatures 

 has earned them the name of aranas peludas "hairy spiders." Not 

 inappropriately, they are dubbed by the Brazilians carangueigeiras, 

 because of the long bony legs especially of the males (Plate XV) 

 and their stance and gait give them a superficial resemblance to 

 crabs. In Mexico, native Indian names have largely been displaced 

 by "tarantula," which is applied to almost any large spider. But in 

 Central America, where these creatures are reputed to be danger- 

 ous to horses, they are still called aranas de caballo, or matacab olios. 

 Outside the Americas, the tarantulas are widely referred to as 

 "mygales," or "bird spiders." This latter name is inappropriate and 

 largely inaccurate, because most of the species are ground loving 

 and have little opportunity to attack birds in trees. 



No matter by what name the tarantulas are known, they excite 

 the imagination because of their great size and notoriety. In the 

 steaming jungles of northern South America live the largest and 

 bulkiest representatives of the whole tribe, enormous creatures that 

 have no peers for size anywhere else in the world. A male Thera- 

 phosa from Montagne la Gabrielle, French Guiana, measured three 

 inches from the front edge of the chelicerae to the end of the abdo- 

 men, and had a leg span when fully extended of ten inches. This 

 specimen, which was black all over and only moderately hairy, 

 weighed nearly two ounces. An enormous female Lasiodora, from 

 Manaos, Brazil, the bulkiest tarantula I have ever seen, had a body 

 three and one-half inches long, and measured nine and one-half 

 inches with the legs extended. Quite handsome in her clothing of 

 fine brown hairs, she weighed almost three ounces. 



