92 NATURAL HISTORY. 



prey upon their own kind without mercy. The most 

 remarkable of this class is 



The Great American or Bird Spider (my gale avicu- 

 laria), plate 26, fig. 2, which is the largest known of all 

 the spider race. The hody is about two inches in length, 

 black, and covered with strong hairs, as are also the 

 feet, which are well proportioned strong and large ; the 

 anterior extremities are provided with hooked claws. 

 They construct a net at least two feet wide and about as 

 thick as fine muslin ; at one end is a bag almost as large 

 as a pigeon's egg, in which the spider deposits its eggs 

 to the number of one hundred. They are found in 

 South America, mostly in the primeval forests, but at 

 times are found in the houses, going forth at night in 

 search of food, which, for the m3st part, consists of insects, 

 although they kill small birds also, and are particularly 

 dangerous to the young brood of Colibri. If unwarily 

 seized, they will bite, and the mandibles, being provided 

 with venom, distill into the wound a poison that acts 

 promptly and produces inflammation, which is sometimes 

 dangerous. There is a relative species which live in 

 holes in the earth. 



The Common Spider (aranea domestica). Scarcely 

 half an inch in size, of a brownish -gray, oval-shaped 

 and hairy, it makes a thick web, as is well known, in 

 every corner ; situated at one end of the net is a tube, 

 into which they drag the flies when they have captured 

 them. They are very industrious spinners, and although 

 their work may be destroyed many times, they renew 

 their webs in a very short space. The spinning material 

 is, however, at last exhausted, and then, when in want of 

 food, they live by piracy, and rob others. The skins are 

 cast annually, and they divest themselves so adroitly of 



