272 MANUAL OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



The food of the Spiders being entirely insect, they 

 are armed with powerful hollow jaws, which inject 

 a poisonous fluid, by means of which they slay their 

 victims when fairly entangled in their toils. Some, 

 as the Jumping-Spiders, spring upon their prey like 

 the Feline-Mammals ; others hunt it down like the 

 Wolves and Dogs ; while some again patiently await 

 their victims in their artful nets, or lie motionless 

 on the leaves and in the blossoms of plants ; others 

 sit at the mouths of their subterranean tubes and 

 keep a keen look out for stragglers, upon which 

 they pounce, then kill and suck their blood. Some of 

 the pedipalp Arachnidans, as the Scorpions, are pro- 

 vided with a powerful instrument of attack in the 

 form of a sting at the end of their ]ong jointed ab- 

 domen. As Typhon, or the Evil Spirit, the Scor- 

 pion figures as one of the signs of the Zodiac ; some 

 of the species which inhabit the hottest parts of 

 Africa are often five or six inches in length, and 

 produce highly venomous wounds ; one, in fact, has 

 received the generic name of Androctonus or Man- 

 killer. These animals never spin webs but live on 

 the ground, concealing themselves under stones ; 

 they feed on wood-lice, beetles, grasshoppers, and 

 will devour also the eggs and larvae of various 

 Insects. 



The Mites are found in various situations ; some 

 as the Cheese-Mite (A earns domesticus) in our pro- 

 visions ; some, as the Ticks (Ixodidce), fasten upon 

 horses, cows, and dogs, and suck their blood ; some 

 are parasitic on birds and bats, and others on in- 



