428 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



July, 1887. She must then have been more than thirteen years old. I was 

 at first afraid that the other one might be affected by the death of her com- 

 panion. She lived, however, until the 8th of August, 1888, when she must 

 have been nearly fifteen years old." 



This longevity is, as far as I know, unparalleled in the history of in- 

 vertebrate animals. Such experiments as the above clearly indicate that 

 artificial environment may have a beneficial influence upon insects as well 

 as domestic animals, and that the interference of human intelligence may 

 be a preservative factor, as well as a destructive one in the lives of even 

 our most lowly organized fellow creatures. 



Early in the year 1882 I received from Dr. Joseph Leidy a specimen 



of our common tarantula, Eurypelma hentzii. 1 As the individual seemed 



to be in good health, I preserved its life in order to gain iufor- 



Tbe mation as to its habits and vital endurance. It was first placed 



Oldest 



in a large glass globe on a bed of earth, where it was kept for 



more than a year. It was then transferred to a wooden box 

 made with glazed sides and a sliding glass door at the top, the whole be- 

 ing eighteen inches long, twelve inches wide, and ten high. One end was 

 filled with dry soil, which was slightly compacted and heaped up ; the 

 other end was sparsely covered with earth. There was thus presented a bit 

 of level space for the spider to burrow should it be inclined to its natural 

 tastes. I last saw it early in July, just prior to my departure for Eng- 

 land. On June 22d, 1887, I made this note : " This spider, which has 

 been kept ever since 1882, is to-day in good health. It is on the outside of 

 the earth moundlet in its box, looking hearty after the winter's fast. It 

 has had nothing to eat since October last at least eight months but has 

 had water freely. Some flies have been put into the box lately, but I do 

 not know that they have been eaten." The spider was then left in the care 

 of Professor Fronani, who for several summers, while at work in the 

 library hall of the Academy, had kindly cared for it during my absence, 

 giving it water and feeding it with insects, particularly grasshoppers or 

 locusts. 



On my return from abroad I was met at the Academy by the intelli- 

 gence that my tarantula was dead. About the close of July it had de- 

 scended into the burrow which for several years it had maintained close to 

 the side of the box, and since then had not come up. Looking into the 

 box I could see against the glass the fragments of a moulted skin on 

 one side of the cavity, and on the other side the outlines of the creat- 

 ure's dead body. It had evidently died shortly after moulting. 



Reckoning its death as having occurred at the close of July, 1887, the 



1 It was captured about the beginning of April, 1882, at Hills Kerry, Stanislaus County, 

 California, was kept in a bottle without food for two weeks, then sent to Professor (i. K. H. 

 \Vfuver, at Media, then a student in Swarthmore College. Mr. Weaver fed it on beefsteak, 

 which it took readily. 



