354 ARANEID^ — TRUE SPIDERS. 



to some other place for relief.^ Strabo has inserted also this 

 miraculous story in his Geography.^^ 



Mr. Nichols mentions Spiders as having been embroidered 

 on the white gowns of ladies in the time of Queen Eliza- 

 beth.3 



Sloane tells us the housekeepers of Jamaica keep large 

 Spiders in their houses to kill cockroaches.* 



Captain Dampier, after minutely describing in his quaint 

 way the "teeth" of a "sort of Spider, some near as big as 

 a Man's Fist," which are found in the West Indies, says : 

 " These Teeth we often preserve. Some wear them in their 

 Tobacco-pouches to pick their Pipes. Others preserve them 

 for tooth-pickers, especially such as are troubled with the 

 toothache ; for by report they will expell that Pain."^ These 

 teeth, which are of a finely polished substance, extremely 

 hard, and of a bright shining black, are often, in the Ber- 

 mudas, for these qualities set in silver or gold and used also 

 for tooth-picks.^ 



Dr. Sparrman says that Spiders form an article of the 

 Bushman's dainties;' and Labillardiere tells us that the in- 

 habitants of New Caledonia seek for and eat with avidity 

 large quantities of a Spider nearly an inch long (which he 

 calls Aranea edulis) and which they roast over the fire.^ 

 Spiders are also eaten by the American Indians and Aus- 

 tralians.^ Molien says : "The people of Maniana, south of 

 Gambia and Senegal, are cannibals. They eat Spiders, 

 Beetles, and old men."^" In Siam, also, we learn from Tur- 

 pin, the egg-bags of Spiders are considered a delicate- food. 

 The bags of certain poisonous species which make holes in 

 the ground in the woods are preferred. ^^ 



And Peter Martyr, in his History of the West Indies, 

 makes the following statement : " The Chiribichenses (Carib- 



I Diod., B. 3, c. 2. 



3 Strabo, B. 16, c. 6, ^ 13. 

 3 Fosbr. Encyc. of Antiq , ii. 788. 

 * Sloane's Hist, of Jamaica, ii. 195. 

 6 Damp. VoT/. Camp., p. 64. 



6 Harris's Col. of Voy. and Trav., ii. 242. Cf. Smith's Nature and 

 Art, X. 257. 



7 Travels, i. 201. 



8 Voyage d la recherche de la Perouse, ii. 240. K. & S. Inirod., i. 311. 

 8 New Amer Cyclop. 



10 Trav. in Africa. Bucke on Nature, ii. 297. 



II Pinkerton's Col. of Voy. and Trav., ix. 612. 



