418 INSECTS ABROAD. 



said to possess so venomous a sting that a person who was stung 

 by one of these insects became insensible in a few minutes, and 

 very nearly lost his life. 



So unlike are the males and females of those insects, that (he 

 two sexes have more than once been catalogued not only as 

 different species, but as belonging to different genera. 



The accompanying illustration represents a species from Bahia, 

 bearing the specific name of eerbera, in allusion to the legendary 

 dog which guarded the portals of Hades. As may be seen by 

 the figure, it bears a curious resemblance to our well-known 





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Fio. 209.— Mutilla eerbera. 

 (Black and white.) 



hunting spider. Its colours are very simple, being only black 

 and white — the latter being of a peculiar dull, dead character 

 that is very difficult to express. The insect looks indeed as if 

 it had been originally black, and that a pattern had been drawn 

 on it with white paint It is thickly covered with hair, as is 

 the case with most of the Mutillas, though in this species the 

 hair is not so long as in many others. 



The really fine insect called Mutilla occidentals belongs to 



North America. 



This is a very hairy species, and is most splendidly coloured 



