158 OUR INSECT FRIENDS AND FOES 



is killed, and the successful combatant then makes 

 a meal of his foe ! 



The bite of these Spiders is exceedingly 

 venomous and causes great pain and local in- 

 flammation, sometimes accompanied by severe 

 headache and fainting fits, and even occasionally 

 by temporary paralysis. To animals they do a 

 great deal of harm, especially to sheep and 

 camels, which are often bitten by the Spider in 

 the feet, or in the body when the animals are 

 lying down. In India many weird tales are 

 told of these Galeodes by the natives, who 

 regard them with considerable dread ; and some 

 old writers go so far as to state that certain parts 

 of India, that are now deserted, were once in- 

 habited, but that the people were driven out by 

 the fear of these terrible Spiders ! 



Many of the Mygalidce, a family of Spiders 

 chiefly found in the warmer parts of the world, 

 grow to an immense size. Several species 

 inhabit the Eastern hemisphere, where some 

 measure as much as six inches in expanse. But 

 it is in the warmer parts of America and the 

 islands of the West Indies that these gigantic 

 Spiders are most commonly seen, where they 

 kill and devour all kinds of insects, and even 

 small animals and birds. The Mygalidae have 

 stout bodies and thick legs, and are covered 

 with short, stiff hairs, which come off if the 

 creature is handled and cause a very painful 

 irritation of the skin. They differ very much in 

 their habits ; some species live on the roofs of 

 houses, where they make a closely woven web, 

 of the thickness of fine muslin, in the thatch or 



