SPIDERS AND WASPS. 87 



snuff-brown, with dashes of dark purple, while the legs 

 are striped like a tiger's. The female is nearly black. 

 The male takes as much pains in building his domicile 

 as the female. In fact, one of the males in a jar en- 

 tirely outdid the female in making a tasteful retreat. 

 He utilized a little twining plant by winding it around 

 and making a living green bower over his burrow. 



He has a voracious appetite, scarcely refusing any- 

 thing I give him, even taking large hairy caterpillars. 

 He has moulted three times during the summer, and 

 now in September must be full grown. 



But another species — of which this is the first public 

 mention so far as is known — excels the tiger-spider in 

 its curious architectural attainments. It belongs to the 

 genus Tarantula, and is as large as the tiger but quite 

 different in color. The male is a soft velvety black, 

 while the female is grayish-brown, or like faded velvet. 

 She has a light-gray spot on top of the thorax, and on 

 the abdomen are three dark-brown longitudinal stripes 

 alternating with light gray. In young specimens these 

 markings are quite distinct, but in old ones the colors 

 blend somewhat. The two sexes do not differ in size, 

 the male being fully as large as the female. The body 

 is a little more than an inch in length, and the legs are 

 large and long, which gives it quite a formidable ap- 

 pearance, but it is perfectly harmless. 



I have provisionally named it Tarantula turricula, 

 reserving a further description. The name was sug- 

 gested from its manner of building. 



