144 Tarantulas. 



Amazons/' tells us that, though he found the 

 circumstance to be quite a novelty to the residents 

 on the banks of the Para Kiver, he was able to 

 (f verify a fact relating to the habits of a large 

 hairy spider of the genus Mygale, in a manner 

 worth recording." The following is his account of 

 what he saw : " The spider was M. avicularia, or 

 one very closely allied to it ; the individual was 

 nearly two inches in length of body, but the legs 

 expanded seven inches, and the entire body and 

 legs were covered with coarse grey and reddish 

 hairs. I was attracted by a movement of the 

 monster on a tree-trunk ; it was close beneath a 

 deep crevice in the tree, across which was stretched 

 a dense white web. The lower part of the web 

 was broken, and two small birds finches were 

 entangled in the pieces ; they were about the 

 size of the English siskin, and I judged the two 

 to be male and female. One of them was quite 

 dead ; the other lay under the body of the spider 

 not quite dead, and was smeared with the filthy 

 liquor or saliva exuded by the monster. I drove 

 away the spider, and took the birds; but the 

 second one soon died." This author also gives 

 the following particulars of these spiders, which 

 he describes as " quite common :" " Some species 

 make their cells under stones, others form artistical 

 tunnels in the earth, and some build their dens in 

 the thatch of houses. The natives call them 

 Aranhas Carangueijeiras, or crab-spiders. The 

 hairs with which they are clothed come off when 



