190 



ABACHNIDA. 



Many make nets composed of regular meshes, and 

 spread th'em in favourable situations to entrap their 



victims ; while some 

 species, enveloping 

 their eggs in bags- of 

 curious construction, 

 carry them about at- 

 tached to their bodies, 

 and defend them with 

 the utmost courage and 

 pertinacity. Even in 

 water these webs are 

 turned to many sin- 

 gular uses : and ropes, 

 nets, and even diving- 

 bells are at the dis- 

 posal of aquatic species, 

 furnished with this ex- 

 traordinary spinning 

 machinery. 



Spiders are divided into the following families, 

 each of which will require our notice : 



The Mouse Spiders (Mygale)* In these the eyes are 

 always placed at the anterior margin of the cephalo- 

 thorax, and generally close together. Their palpi and 

 their feet are very robust. They are generally furnished 

 with four spinnarets, with which they fabricate silken 

 tubes, that serve for their habitations; they are some- 

 times found under stones or under the bark of trees, or 

 hidden between leaves tied together. 



To this group belongs the celebrated Bird Spider (Mygale avicu- 

 laria], the body of which is upwards of aii inch and a half in length. 

 It manufactures its tube of a tissue so strong and dense, that it re- 

 sembles white muslin, and carries its eggs in a cocoon of the same 

 material, as large as a walnut. That these formidable creatures are 

 able to kill and live upon birds, as their name indicates, has been 

 disputed. The question has now, however, been set at rest. 



Mr. H. "VV. Bates, who for many years had an opportunity of 

 observing their habits on the Amazon, writes as follows : " In the 

 month of June, 1849, in the neighbourhood of Cameta, I was 



FlG. 149. SPINNING APPARATUS OF THE 



SPIDER. ^Greatly magnified.) 



juivya\r) t mygale, a field-mouse. 



