The Life of the Spider 



medical point, I interest myself especially in 

 matters of instinct; but, as the poison-fangs 

 play a leading part in the huntress's man- 

 oeuvres of war, I shall speak of their effects 

 by the way. The habits of the Tarantula, her 

 ambushes, her artifices, her methods of killing 

 her prey: these constitute my subject. I will 

 preface it with an account by Leon Dufour,^ 

 one of those accounts in which I used to de- 

 light and which did much to bring me into 

 closer touch with the insect. The Wizard 

 of the Landes tells us of the ordinary Taran- 

 tula, that of the Calabrias, observed by him 

 in Spain: 



'Lycosa tarantula by preference inhabits 

 open places, dry, arid, uncultivated places, 

 exposed to the sun. She lives generally — at 

 least when full-grown — in underground pas- 

 sages, regular burrows, which she digs for 

 herself. These burrows are cylindrical; they 

 are often an inch in diameter and run into the 

 ground to a depth of more than a foot; but 

 they are not perpendicular. The inhabitant 

 of this gut proves that she is at the same 



'Leon Dufour (1780-1865) was an army surgeon who 

 served with distinction in several campaigns and subse- 

 quently practised as a doctor in the Landes. He attained 

 great eminence as a naturalist. — Translator's Note. 

 42 



