SPIDERS, AND PARASITIC TORMENTS. 407 



attracted by a movement of the monster on a tree trunk ; it was 

 close beneath a deep crevice in the tree, across which was stretched 

 a dense white web. The lower part of the web was broken, and 

 two small birds (finches) were entangled in the pieces ; they were 

 about the size of "the English siskin, and I judged the two to be 

 male and female. One of them was quite dead, the other lay under 

 the body of the spider, not quite dead, and was smeared i\'ith the 

 filthy liquor or saliva exuded by the monster. I drove away 

 the spider and took the birds, but the second one soon died. . . . 

 Some Mygales are of immense size. One day I saw the children 

 belonging to an Indian family who collected for me with one 

 of these monsters, secured by a cord round its waist, by which 

 they were leading it about the house as they would a dog." 



The Parasitic Torments of Brazil. 



The carrapato,* or bush-tick, so often referred to is a de- 

 generate spider (Acaridse, Arachnida). The annoyance it caused 

 us far exceeded that from any other animal, or reptile, or insect, 

 that we came across. Chernoviz f names three species of this 

 tick : Ixodes ricinus, Latr. ; I. plumbeus, and /. reticulatus, Latr. 

 But I found more than three species; the smallest are the size 

 of our harvest-bug, and the largest are about three-quarters of an 

 inch in diameter. Captain Burton f says that "the insect was 

 called by the ancients Kporov and ricinus, on account of its resem- 

 blance to the ripe bean of the Palma Christi. § It is the vincucha 

 of Paraguay, the tique of French Guiana, and the ricinus of old 

 authors. This Acaride, seen under the glass, shows a head armed 

 with a trident of teeth, serrated inwards ; the two external blades 

 of the terebro when entering the flesh bend away, forming a 

 triangle, with the base outwards and downwards, and rendering 

 it difficult to remove the plague. The three pairs of short and 

 one of long legs are all provided with sharp and strongly hooked 

 claws. ... In most parts of Minas and Sao Paolo the nuisance 



* " Carta " is an Indian word in frequent use ; thus, carapicho = a burr, 

 caramujo or caracal = a large snail (Bulimus). 



t "Diccionario de medicina popular." J Vol. i. p. 158. 



§ Inversely in Brazil the seed of the castor-oil plant (mamona or ricino) is 

 termed "carrapato." 



