POISON-FANG AND STILETTO 159 



amongst the tiles. In the dusk these creatures 

 come down from their dens and may often be seen 

 crawling stealthily over the wall in the houses. 

 The native West Indians, however, do not seem 

 in the least alarmed by the incursions of these 

 Spiders, and Mr. Bates relates that while he was 

 travelling in the region of the Amazon he once 

 saw a huge, hairy Mygale being led about like a 

 dog by some Indian children who had fastened a 

 cord round its waist. 



Mygale avicularia is a frequenter of trees, and 

 Mr. Bates, in his book, " The River Amazons," 

 gives the following interesting account of its 

 habits : " At Cameta I chanced to verify a fact 

 relating to the habits of a large hairy Spider of 

 the genus Mygale, in a manner worth recording. 

 The species 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." 



