The Black-Bellied Tarantula 



that her bite is dangerous, so fierce in appear- 

 ance, is nevertheless quite easy to tame, as I 

 have often found by experiment. 



'On the yth of May 1812, while at Va- 

 lencia, in Spain, I caught a fair-sized male 

 Tarantula, without hurting him, and im- 

 prisoned him in a glass jar, with a paper cover 

 in which I cut a trap-door. At the bottom 

 of the jar I put a paper bag, to serve as his 

 habitual residence. I placed the jar on a 

 table in my bedroom, so as to have him under 

 frequent observation. He soon grew accus- 

 tomed to captivity and ended by becoming 

 so familiar that he would come and take from 

 my fingers the live Fly which I gave him. 

 After killing his victim with the fangs of his 

 mandibles, he was not satisfied, like most 

 Spiders, to suck her head: he chewed her 

 whole body, shoving it piecemeal into his 

 mouth with his palpi, after which he threw 

 up the masticated teguments and swept them 

 away from his lodging. 



'Having finished his meal, he nearly al- 

 ways made his toilet, which consisted in 

 brushing his palpi and mandibles, both inside 

 and out, with his front tarsi. After that, he 

 resumed his air of motionless gravity. The 



49 



