PULMONARIJE 
287 
brusli, projecting l)eyond tlie hooks, and usually concealing them. 
The male organs of generation consist of a single scaly piece, termi- 
nated hy an entire point, or neither emarginated nor divided ; some- 
times it is formed like an ear-pick — M. de la Blond, \j&t. — usually, 
however, it is globular inferiorly, then becomes narrow, terminates in 
a point, and forms a kind of arcuated hook. 
This division is composed of the largest species of the family, some 
of which, when at rest, cover a circular space of from six to seven 
inches in diameter; they sometimes seize upon Humming-birds. They 
establish their domicile in the clefts of trees, under the bark, in the 
fissures of rocks, or on the surface of leaves of various plants. The 
cell of the Mygale avicularia has the form of a tube, narrowed into 
a point at its posterior extremity. It consists of a white web, of a 
close, very fine texture, semi-diaphanous, and resemhling muslin. 
One of them, presented to me hy M. Goudot, when unrolled, was 
about two decimetres in length, and six centimetres in breadth, mea- 
sured across its greatest transversal diameter. The cocoon of the 
same species was of the figure and size of a large walnut. Its enve- 
lope, consisting of the same material as that of its domicile, was formed 
of three layers. It appears that the young are hatched in it, and 
undergo their first change of tegument there. The naturalist just 
mentioned stated to me, that he had taken a hundi’ed of them from 
a single cocoon*. 
This Mygale — Aranea avicularia, L. ; Kleem. Insect, XI, and 
XII, the male — is about an inch and a half long, hlackish, and 
extremely hairy ; the extremity of the feet and palpi, and the in- 
ferior pili of the mouth reddish. The genital organ of the male 
is hollow at base, and terminates in an elongated and very acute 
point. 
South America and the Antilles produce other species, called 
by the French colonists Araignees-crahes. Their bite is reputed 
to be dangerous. A very large species — M. fasciata; Seb., 
Mus., I, Ixix, i ; Walck., Hist, of Spiders, IV, i, the female — is 
also found in the East Indies. A species, nearly as large as the 
avicularia, inhabits the Cape of Good Hope. Another of the 
same division — M. Valentina — was discovered in the sandy and 
desert districts of Moxenta, in Spain, hy M. Dufour, who has 
described and figured it in the Ann. of the Phys. Sciences, Brus- 
sels, Vol. V. Walckenaer has also described a second species 
from that peninsula which has two prominences above its respi- 
ratory organs. These two latter species forma particular grouj), 
characterized by the hooks of the tarsi, which are salient or 
exposed -j-. 
In the following Mygales |, the superior extremity of the first 
* See my memoir on the habits of the Avicularia in the Ann. du ^lus. d’llist. 
Nat. VIII, p. 456. 
-f- For details concerning these and the following species, as well as for the other 
genera of this family, see the corresponding articles in the Nouv. Diet. d’Hist. Nat., 
where we treat of them at lensrth. 
t The genus Cten'iz.x, Lnt., Fam. Nat. du Rt'^gne Animal. 
