1896.] SPIDERS FBOM THE LOWER AMAZONS. 717 



of the group Triclariinm vie with the essentially semi-aquatic 

 Dolomedes in displaying their skill in running upon and diving 

 beneath the surface, out of sight and out of reach of enemies in 

 pursuit. 



Throughout the three first-mentioned regions there are, of 

 course, certain Spider forms found sprinkled equally over each — • 

 as, for instance, the ubiquitous Avicularia, the "Aranfia carart' 

 juejira," the crab-spider par excellence of the native Brazilian. 

 But there are also many special forms, each of them peculiar to 

 their special district. 



Here one finds, too, 4000 miles on the other side of the globe, 

 beneath an equatorial sun, forms strangely familiar to the English 

 naturalist in districts of similar physical character at home. 



The sandy campos, for instance, furnish us with a Lycosa, iu 

 colour adapted to its environment, and curiously similar to the 

 Lycosa picta of our English sand-dunes. 



In the forest, Bpeirids, Therididse, and Salticids swarm, of every 

 shape and hue. Thomisids, too, the majority very similar to 

 European species in general character, to which the pure white 

 waxen Eripus, lurking in some snow-white blossom, is a notable 

 exception. 



One must not, however, have the impression that the Spider- 

 fauna of tropical America is much the same as that of England. 

 We have nothing, for instance, to compare with the curious 

 Gastracanthids, the crlmson-spined Micrathena schreibersi, or the 

 numerous species of the thorny-backed genus Oastracantha. We 

 have nothing to match the huge Nephila with her diminutive 

 husband, or the lovely Argiope argeniata stretched on the white 

 silken cross in the centre of its orbicular snare. Except an Atypus 

 or two, we have nothing to take the place of the 250 species and 

 upwards of the Myr/alomorph(s which are found in Southern and 

 Central America. So that, although many a familiar form will 

 meet the eye of the English arachuologist on the Amazons, yet 

 there are countless forms diilering in size, in structure, and in 

 colour from anything that he can find amongst the Spider-fauna of 

 Northern Europe. 



One must confess, too, that at the present time arachnologists 

 still know next to nothing of the Spiders of Brazil. Nor do I 

 speak only of differences specific, a more extended knowledge of 

 which merely multiplies the known species ten or a hundredfold : 

 nor only of a knowledge which enables us with certainty to pair 

 this female with that male which, according to the laws of Nature, 

 rightfully belongs to her — a matter of no little difficulty even to 

 specialists. I refer rather to our knowledge of almost everything 

 which has to do with their habits and domestic economy. We 

 must confess, for instance, that we do not yet know the staple 

 diet of so common and so well-known a Spider as the huge 

 Avicularia. Though I was out night after night, and though 

 I watched, on several occasions the whole night through, the 

 tunnels of twenty and upwards of the sand-burrowing " Mygale" 



