THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 



175 



on the trees. In one of her magnificent plates Sibylle de 

 Marian, so celebrated for her knowledge and her beautiful 

 paintings from natural history, represents a touching scene; 



that of a spider, the My gale arknlaria, which is gorging 

 a humming-bird near its nest.^ 



Some well-known spiders, which are almost as large as 

 the fist, sometimes fasten on chickens and pigeons, seiz- 



1 This animal (the Aranea avicalaria, Linn.) known in Soutli America as the 

 Abamrlin, or Great Spider, measures an incli across the thorax, and spins a 



