560 



SPIDERS. 



FEMALE 

 COCCUS. 



Among the most beautiful beetles in the Brazils is the 

 diamond beetle (Entrinus nobilis), of a lustrous azure green, 

 and with golden wings. AVith it, and other species, the ladies 

 form necklaces, and ornament their dresses. 



In Venezuela, the cactus plants, which grow so abundantly, 

 serve to nourish the valuable thouo-h odd-lookinof little 

 coccus cacti. The male and female differ greatly. 

 The female resembles a Lilliputian tortoise, and is of 

 a dark brown colour, with two light spots on the back 

 covered with white powder. The male, possessed of 

 a pair of wings, is much smaller, and roves about at 

 will from plant to plant. The female, a short time 

 after she has become full-grown, secures herself to a 

 leaf, where she remains immovable. She now grows 

 to such a size, that she more resembles a seed belong- 

 ing to a plant than an insect, all her limbs being 

 completely concealed by her wide-expanded body. 

 In process of time, before the young insects are 

 born, the cochineal - gatherers detach the insect by 

 means of a knife dipped in boiling water, which kills them. 

 They are then dried in the sun, and appear like small dry 

 berries of a deep mulberry colour. 



MALE 

 COCCI'S, 



SPIDERS. 



Fear-inspiring is the appearance of the great crab-spider — ■ 

 the Mygale avicularia, one genus of the formidable Arachnida 

 family — with a body two inches in length, and, when the legs 

 are expanded, seven inches across, covered entirely with coarse 

 gray, reddish hairs. It lives among the rocks in the drier 

 regions ; some dwell under stones, others form artistic tunnels 

 under the earth, and some build their dens in the thatch of 



