358 



FOOD OF INSECTS, 



MacLeay having placed a living humming-bird in the tube 

 of a My gale, it deserted it, leaving the bird untouched.^ It 

 is, however, very possible that other species may attack birds, 

 as is asserted of My gale Blondii by Palisot de Beauvais, of 

 M. fasciata by Percival in his Account of Ceylon, and of 

 a species common in Martinique by M. Moreau de Jonnes.^ 

 Mygale avicularia, as well as other tropical species, the 

 European Cteniza cementaria, and many others, construct in 

 the ground very singular cylindrical cavities, and therein 

 carry and devour their prey. These, being rather the habi- 

 tations of insects than snares, I shall describe in a subsequent 

 letter, Lycosa saccata, the species whose affection for its 

 young I have before detailed, and not a few others of the 

 same family, common in this country, in like manner seize 

 their prey openly, and when caught carry it to little inar- 

 tificial cavities under stones. Dolomedes Jimbriatus^ hunts 

 along the margins of pools ; and Lycosa piratica and its con- 

 geners not only chase their prey in the same situation, but, 

 venturing to skate upon the surface of the water itself, 



"... bathe unwet their oily forms, and dwell 

 With feet repulsive on the dimpling well." 



The Rev. R. Sheppard has often noticed, in the fen ditches 

 of Norfolk, a very large spider, which actually forms a raft 

 for the purpose of obtaining its prey with more facility. 

 Keeping its station upon a ball of weeds about three inches 

 in diameter, probably held together by slight silken cords, it 

 is wafted along the surface of the water upon this floating 

 island, which it quits the moment it sees a drowning insect, — 

 not, as you may conceive, for the sake of applying to it the 

 process of the Humane Society, but of hastening its exit by 

 a more speedy engine of destruction. The booty thus seized 

 it devours at leisure upon its raft, under which it retires when 

 alarmed by any danger. 



1 Trans. Zool. Soc. Lond. i. 191. 



2 Shuckard in Ann. of Nat. Hist. viii. 436. 



3 According to M. Walckenaer this spider (Aranea fimhriata L.), A. marginata 

 and A. paludosa De Geer ; as well as Dolomedes limbatus Hahn, and D. mar- 

 ginatus of his Faune Frangaise, are mere varieties of the same species. {Ann. Soc 

 Ent. de France, ii. 424.) 



