652 



THE GREAT CRAB-SPIDER. 



injected into any object that may be wounded by the sharp claw. The fluid which is 

 secreted for the service of the fangs is nearly colorless, and is found to possess most of 

 the properties that exist in the venom of the rattlesnake or viper. The very existence of 

 this fluid is denied by some writers, and its poisonous nature by others. I can, however, 

 state from personal experience, that the bite of an angry spider inflicts a really painful 

 injury, not very dissimilar to the sting of a wasp. I have seen a lady's hand and arm 

 swollen so as to be hardly recognizable as belonging to the human figure, in consequence 



of a bite inflicted by a large Spider on the back of 

 her hand 



They all spin those remarkable nets which we 

 popularly call " webs," and which differ wonder- 

 fully in the various species. These webs are, in 

 very many instances, employed as traps wherein 

 may be caught the prey on which the Spider feeds, 

 but in other cases are only used as houses wherein 

 the creature can reside. Some of the uses to 

 which these wonderful productions are put, as well 

 as some details of their structure, will presently be 

 mentioned. 



We now pass to the typical species of these 

 curious animals. 



The spiders belonging to the family Mygalidae 

 may at once be known by the shape of their man- 

 dibles and the terrible claws which proceed from 

 them. In the greater number of Spiders, the 

 claws are set horizontally, but in the Mygalidae 

 they are bent downwards, and strike the prey 

 much as a lion clutches at his victim with his 

 curved talons. Several species of these Spiders 

 are known, most of which attain to considerable 

 dimensions, and some are so enormously large as 

 to become really formidable creatures, which man 

 himself does not like to attack except with a 

 weapon of some kind, or, at all events, with a 

 shod foot. 



The GREAT CRAB-SPIDER belongs to the typical 

 genus of this family, and is one of the formidable 

 Arachnida that are said to prey upon young birds 

 and other small vertebrates, instead of limiting 

 themselves to the insects, and similar beings, which 

 constitute the food of the generality of the Spider 

 race. All Spiders are carnivorous, the dimensions 

 of their prey varying with those of the destroyer, 

 and it is by no means an illogical supposition that 

 a Spider whose spread of limb equals that of a 

 human hand, might suck the juices of some of the 

 smaller and more helpless vertebrates. 



In Madame Merian's well-known work on the insects of Surinam, there is a careful 

 and forcible sketch of one of these great Spiders ( Mygale avicularia) engaged in preying 

 upon a humming-bird, which it seems to have taken out of its nest. She gives also a 

 description of this Spider, mentioning that it chiefly feeds upon ants, but that when they 

 fail, it climbs the trees and catches the humming-birds. For a time this account was 

 believed, and the Spider received the specific name of avicularia in consequence of its 

 bird-catching propensities. After a while, however, several persons ventured to dis- 

 credit the story, and at last both the account and the illustration were set down as simple 

 fabrications of the imagination. Experiments were also tried, dead humming-birds 



PALPI OP MALE SPIDER5. 



A. Lycosa. D. Linyphia, 



B. SAlticus, E. 'Atypus. 



C. Clubiina. F. Epetra. 



