THE GREAT GRAB-SPIDER. 
495 
not obtain the ants on which they usually fed, and then to watch the nests of the humming- 
birds at night, to see if the Mygale paid them a visit. The experiments were simply futile. 
Humming-birds never think of getting into subterranean burrows, and if a Mygale saw such a 
bird making its way into his domicile, he would be justified in running away as fast as he 
could from so strange a phenomenon. Lately, however, the Mygale has been seen repeatedly 
to kill the young, not only of the humming-bird, but of other vertebrates, and thus Madame 
Merian’s reputation for veracity remains intact. It is true that, in one or two places, she 
narrates circumstances which are not true ; but then she always takes care to mention 
that such events were related to her by a third person ; and whenever she speaks of 
any circumstance as having been witnessed by herself, her statements may be implicitly 
relied upon. 
As a proof of her perfect veracity on this habit of the Mygale, I will quote a passage from 
M. Moreau de Jonnes, who spent many years in Martinique, and watched carefully the habits 
of these enormous Spiders : — 
“ It spins no web to serve it as a dwelling. It burrows and lies in ambush in the clefts of 
hollow ravines, in volcanic tufas, or in decomposed lava. It often travels to a considerable 
distance, and conceals itself under leaves to surprise its prey, or it climbs on the branches of 
trees to surprise the colibris (i. e. humming-birds) and the certhia flaveola (a bird allied to our 
common tree-creeper). It usually takes advantage of the night to attack enemies, and it is 
commonly on its return towards its burrow that one may meet it in the morning and catch it, 
when the dew, with which the plants are charged, slackens its walk. 
“The muscular force of the Mygale is very great, and it is particularly difficult to make it 
let go tlie objects which it has seized, even when their surface affords no purchase, either to 
the hooks with which its tarsi are armed, or to the claws which it employs to kill the birds and 
the anolis (a kind of tree-lizard). The obstinacy and bitterness which it exhibits in combat 
ceases only with its life. I have seen some which, though pierced twenty times through and 
through the corslet, still continued to assail their adversaries without showing the least desire 
of escaping them by flight. 
“ In the moment of danger, this Spider usually seeks a support against which it can raise 
itself and mark its opportunity of casting itself upon its enemies. Its four posterior feet are 
then fixed upon the ground ; but the others, half extended, are ready to seize the animal 
which it is about to attack. When it darts upon it, it fastens itself upon the body with 
all the double hooks that terminate its feet, and stretches to attain the superior base of 
the head, that it may sink its talons between the cranium and the first vertebra. In some 
of the American insects I have recognized the same instinct of destruction. 
“ The Mygale carries its eggs inclosed in a cocoon of white silk of a very close 
tissue, forming two rounded pieces, united at their body. It supports this cocoon under its 
corslet by means of its antennulse, and transports it along with itself. When very much 
pressed by its enemies, it abandons it for an instant, but returns to take it up as soon as the 
combat is concluded. 
“The little ones are disclosed in rapid succession. They are entirely white; the first 
change which they undergo is the appearance of a triangular and hairy spot which forms 
on the centre of the upper part of the abdomen. 
“I had preserved from 1,800 to 2,000 of these, all of which proceeded from the same 
cocoon. They were all devoured in the same night by some red ants, which, guided by an 
instinct that set at defiance all my cares, discovered the box in which I had inclosed the 
Spiders, and insinuated themselves into it by means of an almost imperceptible aperture, 
through which myriads of them passed, one by one, in the space of a few hours. It is owing, 
in all probability, to the destructive war waged upon the avicularia by these insects that 
the number of these Arachnida is confined within such narrow limits, which by no means 
correspond with their prodigious capability of reproduction.” 
The talons of the Spiders are scientifically called by the appropriate name of “falces,” the 
word being Latin, and signifying a reaping-hook. By this name they will be called in the 
course of the following pages. The falces of the great Crab-spiders are of enormous size, and 
