THE MYGALE. 



653 



being put into the dens of these Spiders, without any result, and the whole of Madame 

 Merian's account was boldly denounced as fabulous. 



Yet there were many observers of nature who continued to think that so pains- 

 taking a naturalist as Madame Merian, who had spent many years of her life in con- 

 stant investigations, was not likely to have given so circumstantial an account without 

 some grounds for it. That she was quite correct in saying that the Spider fed gener- 

 ally on ants, was conceded even by her opponents, and it was just possible that she 

 might not be wholly incorrect in the latter part of her statement. 



Moreover, they thought that the experiments were by no means conclusive, and that 

 the natural conditions were not fulfilled. It was true enough that when a dead hura- 



CRAB'SPIDBR OR MATOUTOU. 



ctacerldes, 



ming-bird was pushed into the nest of a Mygale, the creature did not attempt to eat it, 

 but retreated to the back of its den, or tried to get away. They thought that the My- 

 gale could not be expected to act otherwise, and that there was a vast difference between 

 a dead humming-bird pushed into a burrow in the daytime by a huge heavy-footed 

 biped, and a living humming-bird, asleep at night in its nest upon a tree. An animal 

 of any kind must be left undisturbed, if the observer wishes to gain an insight into its 

 habits ; and if he deliberately violates all the conditions, he can hardly expect favor- 

 able results. If a practical naturalist wishes to learn whether the Mygale, a nocturnal 

 being, is in the habit of visiting the trees at night and robbing the nests of the humming- 

 birds when it could not obtain its proper supply of ants, he would hardly set to work 

 in so clumsy a manner as to poke a dead humming-bird into the creature's burrow by day. 



