POISON-FANG AND STILETTO i$7 



its victim at the junction of the head and thorax, 

 the poison injected from its fangs quickly causing 

 the death of its prey. 



In the warmer parts of the globe many 

 Spiders are found that are truly terrifying 

 monsters to encounter. On the great steppes 

 and hot sandy deserts of Central Asia, Southern 

 Russia, and Africa there dwells a great Spider, 

 belonging to the same Order as the well-known 

 " Harvest Spider," with its little button-like 

 body and extraordinarily long legs. This 

 strange creature (Galeodes amneoides) possesses 

 a large, hairy body, somewhat pear-shaped in 

 form, and a remarkably powerful pair of pincers, 

 which are furnished with poison glands like 

 those of the true Spiders. The two pairs of palpi 

 are very long and leg-like, so that the Galeodes 

 appears to possess five pairs of legs ; only the 

 three pairs of true legs are used in walking, the 

 two pairs of leg-like palpi being carried raised 

 in front of the Spider to act as feelers. 



The Galeodes is nocturnal in its habits, con- 

 cealing itself during the hours of day under 

 stones or in pits that it digs in the ground, and 

 coming forth at night to prowl about in search 

 of prey. So powerful is this alarming creature 

 that it seizes and devours bats, young rats, and 

 small lizards, and attacks Scorpions twice its 

 own size, although in these encounters it is not 

 always the conqueror, as it sometimes happens 

 that the Scorpion kills the Spider with its sting. 

 The Galeodes are exceedingly pugnacious, and 

 when two of them meet a battle royal usually 

 takes place ; the Spiders fight until one of them 



