1925 ] 
A Note on the Moulting of the Tarantula 
3 
groove on the carapace at that time. Under normal conditions, 
this seems tightly closed, but during moulting it pulsated slowly 
and constantly, in a way suggestive of air being pumped in. 
This groove is the point of attachment of the thoracic muscles. 
Fig. 1. Moulting Tarantula, Eurypelma hentzii. 
The animal was probably adult after this moult, and the 
hazard of moulting had been surmounted. 
One other item of interest should be recorded in connection 
with this narrative. Into this large glass box that served as its 
house I at one time placed a spider, Latrodectus mactans. This 
creature made a straggly web in one corner, and the tarantula 
often used it to climb to the top, a distance of fifteen inches. 
It picked its way carefully and slowly among the strands of web, 
carefully placing a foot here and lifting one there, as with great 
dexterity, it lifted its ponderous body, thread by thread, among 
the apparently insufficient threads. 
