280 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 
creatures, studded with strong spines. They are allied to the Garden-spiders, but confined to 
the tropics. 
The SPOTTED SPIDER is a very beautiful species, often seen among cases of mixed insects, etc., 
sent from India. It is black, with brown abdomen and numerous yellow spots, and about 14 inch 
long; the body is much longer than broad, and the legs are about twice as long as the body. 
Attempts have been made to turn spider-silk to commercial purposes, but the great 
difficulty is that spiders are so voracious and cannibalistic in their propensities that they 
cannot be kept in captivity, for they will kill and eat each other as long as there are any 
left, to the very last spider. The silk of some of the large tropical spiders is sometimes. 
strong enough to cause aman much annoyance when riding through the woods, striking up 
against his face, and sometimes knocking off his hat. 
The last section includes the MITES and TICKS, most of which are small or microscopic. 
The whole body forms one 
round or oval mass, with 
scattered hairs, and eight 
legs, though most mites 
have only six legs when 
young, while the PLANT- 
MITES have only four. The 
largest mites are those 
called Ticks. There are 
one or two small species 
which are sometimes suf 
ficiently troublesome; but. 
in many warm countries: 
they are a far more serious 
nuisance, lurking on the 
herbage, and fixing their 
proboscis in the skin of 
any passing man or ani- 
mal, and retaining their 
hold till they are gorged 
with blood, and_ allow 
SPANISH TARANTULA themselves to drop off by 
their own weight. 
Photo by Highley 
So called because the bite of an Italian species was supposed to produce a fit of melancholia, which 
could only be cured by the tune known as the ‘* tarentella *’ Among the smaller 
mites some species are 
parasitic on warm-blooded animals, causing itch, mange, and other diseases; while many infest 
insects, especially humble-bees and dung-beetles. These are of considerable size for mites; and 
there are other bright scarlet species which are sometimes found on saw-flies, dragon-flies, etc. 
Many feed on decaying animal or vegetable-matter, such as the CHEESE-MITE and the SUGAR-MITE,, 
the former being a very familiar and interesting microscopic object; and others, again, are very’ 
destructive to plants, like the small scarlet mite known in greenhouses as the RED SPIDER. 
Among the plant-feeding mites are the four-legged GALL-MITES, which produce galls or 
other excrescences on the plants which they infest. 
Mites are probably almost as varied in their forms and habits and as interesting objects of 
study as insects or spiders; but the group is somewhat neglected by naturalists, owing to the 
small size of most of the species, and the consequent difficulty of collecting and preserving them. 
CENTIPEDES AND MILLIPEDES 
These are creatures with long, worm-like bodies, composed of a number of rings or segments, 
each provided with one or two pairs of legs. They have one pair of antenna, like insects, but 
