The Life of the Spider 



hostilities. But the contest was soon renewed 

 between my two Tarantula with increased 

 fierceness. One of them, after holding vic- 

 tor}- in the balance for a while, was at last 

 thrown and received a mortal wound in the 

 head. He became the prey of the conqueror, 

 who tore open his skull and devoured it. 

 After this curious duel, I kept the victorious 

 Tarantula alive for several weeks.' 



My district does not boast the ordinary 

 Tarantula, the Spider whose habits have 

 been described above by the Wizard of the 

 Landes; but it possesses an equivalent in the 

 shape of the Black-beUied Tarantula, or Xar- 

 bonne Lycosa, half the size of the other, clad 

 in black velvet on the lower surface, espe- 

 cially under the beUy, with brown che\Tons on 

 the abdomen and grey and white rings aroimd 

 the legs. Her favourite home is the dry, 

 pebbly ground, covered with sun-scorched 

 thyme. In my harmas^ laboratory there are 

 quite twenty of this Spider's burrows. Rarely 

 do I pass by one of these haunts without 

 giving a glance down the pit where gleam, 



^Prorengal for the bit of waste ground en which the 

 author studies his insects in the n5.tjral state. — Trans- 

 lator'^ Note. 



52 



