M Y G A L E. 



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for another popular one. The French call it the 

 Desman, which is, we believe, the Swedish name, 

 and there coul<l be no objection to the adopting of 

 the same in this country. The Russian would no 

 doubt be the more appropriate name, but, like many 

 other Russian names, it is a "jaw-breaker" it runs 

 thus, as nearly as our alphabet will bring out the ex- 

 pression of it Wuytchotschol. 



Pyrennean Species (M. Pyrenaica). This species 

 is only half the size of the former, and differs much 

 in the structure of the tail, almost sufficiently so in 

 this, and some other respects, to entitle it to rank as 

 a separate genus, or, at all events, to a separate sub- 

 genus. The tail is not compressed at the base, nor 

 enlarged at a little distance from it. It is cylindrical, 

 or nearly so, for the greater part of its length, and 

 laterally compressed for only about the last fourth. It 

 is also longer than the body of the animal, and its 

 covering is different. It has no scales, but only a 

 peculiar sort of flat hairs, which, however, adhere to 

 the skin for the greater part of their length. The 

 muzzle is much more produced than in the Russian 

 species, indicating, perhaps, a habit of finding its 

 food in more stubborn mould. The structure of its 

 feet are much less aquatic, the toes of the fore foot 

 not being webbed to the extremities, and the inner 

 toes and the hind ones being entirely free. The 

 covering of the body is the same in its texture as that 

 of the other, but it is very different in its colouring. 

 The upper part is a fine maroon brown, passing into 

 greyish-brown on the flanks, and again into silvery 

 on the belly ; the whole of the face is dark coloured, 

 instead of having a white space surrounding the eyes, 

 and the lower side of the under jaw white, as in the 

 other ; in the arrangement of the teeth, those of the 

 upper jaw very closely resemble the teeth of the 

 mole ; the bristly hairs around the muzzle are almost 

 entirely rudimental. This species has not been long 

 known, and was discovered by M. Dessouais, Pro- 

 fessor of Natural History at the Central School of 

 Tarbes, on the French side of the Pyrennees. It 

 was not found in the mountains or in the plain at the 

 base where the current of the water becomes more 

 moderate, and in this it, in so far at least, agrees 

 with the Russian, or more typical species, which is 

 found only on the margins of slow running or stagnant 

 waters. It should seem that this small species is 

 rare, for it has not been met with at the foot of any 

 of the other mountains of southern Europe, and, even 

 in the place where found, it has been but rarely seen. 

 It does not appear to be an animal of nearly so 

 interesting a character as the Russian ; but still it is 

 not a little curious that two animals, apparently 

 peculiar to Europe, and differing so much from all 

 the other European mammalia, should be found in 

 regions so widely apart from each other, without any 

 corresponding animal, or any approach to one, in the 

 wide regions which intervene between their localities. 

 There is not a great deal in the physical geography of 

 the country at the foot of the Pyreenes which could 

 assimilate that country to central or southern Russia ; 

 and yet there is a violent contrast in the seasons 

 of the one locality as well as in those of the other 

 The narrowness of the country there, the difference 

 of temperature in the two seas, the height of the 

 mountains, and their continuation from sea to sea, 

 and the consequent play of the atmosphere between 

 the Mediterranean and the Bay of Biscay, certainly 

 make the French side of the Pyrennees a peculiar 



country; but still (here is not much resemblance 

 between it and Russia. 



MYGALE (Walckenaer). A genus of spiders 

 comprising the most gigantic species of the tribe, 

 distinguished by having the palpi inserted at the 

 superior extremity of the maxilhe, so that the former 

 organs appear six-jointed, the first joint being narrow 

 and long, with the internal angle at the tip porrected 

 so as to perform the office of the maxillae. The 

 labium is small and subquadrate ; the last joint of the 

 palpi in the males is short, and in form of a button. 

 The two anterior tibiae have also, in this sex, a strong 

 spur at the inferior extremity. 



Latreille, who has paid much attention to this 

 group of spiders, and published a valuable memoir 

 upon them, in the Nouvelles Annalesdu Museum, has 

 divided them into two divisions or subgenera, both of 

 which from the interesting particulars connected with 

 them, it will be proper to notice. 



In the first, or mygale, the tips of the chelicerae are 

 not furnished with a series of moveable spine?, and 

 the hairs which clothe the underside of the tarsi form 

 a thick and broad cushion extending beyond and 

 concealing the ungues. Here belong the largest 

 species of the family, some of which, in a state of 

 repose, occupy a circular space of six or seven inches 

 in diameter. The type of this genus is the Aranen 

 aricularia, Linnaeus, respecting the habits of which 

 great incorrectness appears to have prevailed amongst 

 naturalists. We are indebted to Mr. MacLeay for 

 a correction of these errors ; the following is an 

 abstract of the communication of this gentleman, 

 published in the first volume of the Transactions of 

 the Zoological Society of London. The story of a 

 spider which catches and devours birds appears to 

 have had its origin with Madame Merian, in her 

 splendid work upon the insects of Surinam. Oviedo, 

 Labat, and Rochefort make no mention of any spider 

 as possessing such habits ; the two latter writers going 

 no further than the statement, that in the Bermudas 

 there exists one which makes nets of so strong a 

 construction as to entangle small birds. Madame 

 Merian, however, went the length of asserting tluit 

 one spider not only caught but devoured small bird*, 

 and figured the Mygale avicularia in the act of prey- 

 ing upon a humming bird. Now, the Mygale does 

 not spin a net [Madame Merian does not assert that 

 it does do so], but resides in holes under ground, nnd 

 in all its movements keeps close to the earth, while 

 humming birds never perch except on branches. 

 The food of Mygale consists of Juli, Porcelliones, sub- 

 terranean, Achet(E, and Blattce. A living humming 

 bird and a small anolis placed in one of its tubes, 

 were not only not eaten by the spider, but the latter 

 quitted its hole, and left it in the possession of the 

 intruders. The largest spider of the West Indies 

 that spins a geometrical web is the Ncphila davlpes 

 (Leach,) and its net may probably, occasionally, be 

 strong enough to arrest the smaller humming birds, 

 but it is not likely that the spider would eat the 

 birds. A small species of lizard, introduced into one 

 of these webs, was enveloped in the usual manner by 

 the spider, but, as soon as the operation was com- 

 pleted, the spider lost no time in cutting the line, 

 and allowing her prisoner to fall to the ground. 

 Mr. MacLeay consequently disbelieves the existence 

 of any bird-catching spider. 



The nest of this species is in the form of a tube, 

 narrowed to a point behind, and composed of a whitish 



