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serious effects resulting from it, also depend upon the state of 

 health and constitution of the bitten person ; but, speaking 

 generally, the spiders of cold countries are not formidable. 



Travellers tell us of some species which are reputed to be 

 venomous. The avicularia of Linnaeus, which is found at 

 Cayenne and Surinam, is considered dangerous to men, and 

 its bite is always followed by grievous accidents, according 

 to those writers. It is frequently fatal to the humming-birds, 

 and colibris, on which it feeds. The least wound which it 

 inflicts instantly kills them, which is not surprizing, consider- 

 ing the strength of its hooks, and the extreme delicacy of 

 those little birds. Swammerdam, and other naturalists, have 

 endeavoured to discover if the araneides have really a poison 

 which they insinuate into the wound, after they have bitten. 

 Nothing, however, was discovered which could indicate that 

 they poison the wound which they inflict. Poultry, and 

 birds in general, eat these animals without suffering any in- 

 convenience. It also sometimes happens to men to swallow 

 small araneides in eating fruit, without experiencing any 

 accident in consequence ; and some persons have even eaten 

 very large ones to prove that they are not venomous. The 

 astronomer Lalande, swallowed four of them in the presence 

 of M. Latreille, wdthout any evil result*. The latter gentle- 

 man is, however, of opinion that they do possess a venom, 

 though it ordinarily produces no sensible effect upon us. It 

 is very certain, though contrary to the testimony of some 

 naturalists, that the talons of their mandibles are pierced at 

 the extremity. It is equally easy to be convinced that in- 

 sects which have been bitten by a tolerably strong spider, die 

 almost immediately. Rossi informs us that a species of 

 iheridion inflicts wounds which are mortal, even to man.. 



* This, however, does not negative the existence of venom, as we know 

 thai the poison of a viper may be taken into the stomach without injury. 



