Marvels of the Universe 



321 



[/;. w.y., /■./,. 



published therein a sensa- 

 tional figure of a gieat 

 spider eating a humming- 

 bird ; but although she 

 carefully explained in the 

 text that the spider feeds 

 mostl\- upon ants and 

 only hunts for birds when 

 the insect-supply runs 

 short, popular sentiment 

 was so shocked at the idea 

 of the most loathsome 

 creature in existence be- 

 ing permitted to prev 

 upon the most beautiful 

 and charming, that all 

 else regarding the spider 

 was forgotten. Linnaeus, 

 too, contributed to the 

 promulgation of the error 

 by naming this spider 

 Avicularia or the "bird- 

 catcher." 



The comparative rare- 

 ness of the occurrence 

 recounted by ^ladame 

 Merian may be gauged by 

 the circumstance that apparently only three travellers since her time have observed a similar thing ; 

 and the obser\-ations in at least two of these cases were made upon widely different species of spiders, 

 one being an inhabitant of Borneo, a second of Martinique, while the third, which possibly belonged 

 to the same kind as the true avicularia, came from Brazil. This shows that there is more than 

 one of these monstrous spiders to which the term " bird-eating " is applicable, and since it is probable 

 that all the spiders related to them that are capable of eating small birds now and again practise 

 this habit, just as they now and again eat small lizards and mice, the title in question, misleading 

 though it be, has been extended in popular parlance to embrace at all events the larger members of 

 the entire group. 



Now this group is very widely distributed. It ranges in America from the Southern States of 

 the Union to Argentine and Chili ; in Africa it is found everywhere south of the Sahara ; while in 

 Southern Asia it spreads from Bombay to New Guinea, and even occurs in Australia. The number 

 of species represented in these countries has never been counted, but it certainly runs into hundreds. 

 All are nocfurnal, and their principal variation in habits is found in the nature of retreats in which 

 they lurk during the day. Some dig burrows in the soil ; others shelter in rock-crevices, holes in 

 trees, forked branches or rolled leaves ; but whatever be the nature of the retreat, it is always lined 

 with silk. The true avicularia is one of the species which lives in trees. Another with similar 

 habits is now and again imported to England in bunches of bananas from the West Indies. 

 It is probably amongst the tree-dwellers that the bird-eating propensity is most prevalent, 

 because coming out at night in search of prey, opportunity is afforded them of taking birds 

 unaware on their nests or of pouncing upon them roosting in the branches. 



In actual bodily bulk these giants of the spider-world are not so large as one would suppose. 



I'holo ft('] 



Big spiders of this 

 legs, covered 



WEST INDIAN BIRD-EATING SPIDER. 



Uind occur 

 with a denst 



n various tropical 

 coal of long Kairs. 



countries. They have long thick 

 They are nocturnal in habit. 



