60 
Psyche 
[April 
SPIDERS EATING SNAKES. 
In a communication to the Biological Society of Sao Paulo, 
Brazil, July 8, 1925, Drs. Brazil and Vellard give an account of a 
spider which eats snakes, frogs and lizards in preference to in- 
sects. I am indebted to Dr. Amaral from Brazil who is now in 
Cambridge for translation of part of this paper. 
The spider, Grammostola acteon Pocock, is one of the large 
Aviculariidae commonly known as “tarantula.” The body of a 
male is 60 mm. in length, the thorax 24 mm., the abdomen 36 
mm., the legs 60 to 72 mm. The female is somewhat larger with 
shorter legs. 
One of these spiders, kept in confinement, refused for some 
time to eat insects which were offered to it. One day a small frog 
was put in with it and the spider at once pounced upon it, 
crushed it with its jaws and fed upon it. The same experiment 
with other individuals and other kinds of frogs showed that the 
spiders preferred the frogs to insects. Small snakes were then 
given to them, and they took these as readily as they did also 
small lizards. 
When a Grammostola and a young snake are put in a cage 
together the spider tries to catch the snake by the head and will 
hold on in spite of all efforts of the snake to shake him off. After 
a minute or two the spider’s poison takes effect, and the snake 
become quiet. Beginning at the head, the spider crushes the 
snake with its mandibles and feeds upon its soft parts, some- 
times taking 24 hours or more to suck the whole animal, leaving 
the remains in a shapeless mass. 
In a large cage with snakes 25 to 45 centimeters long, frogs 
and insects, the spiders will generally neglect the insects. 
The Grammostola does not feed with much regularity. One 
individual took 48 hours to suck a frog 6 cm. long. Two days 
later it ate a small snake, Crotalus terrificus, on the third day a 
frog, Cyclorhamphus, and the next day a snake, Bothrops jaracara, 
after which it was two weeks before it ate again. 
J. H. Emerton. 
