SPIDERS, SCORPIONS, AND MITES. 191 
is drawn out which consists of as many constituent threads 
as there are minute orifices in her spinnerets. 
Want of space forbids us to do much more than allude to 
the renowned Tarantula ( Lycosa tarentula) of Italy. The 
bite of this Spider is reputed to produce lethargy, melan- 
choly, and delirium, which are only to be cured by the 
influence of music exciting the patient to dance. It is now 
pretty well established that those pretended cures were 
“got up” for the sake of imposing on the credulous. The 
Spider itself belongs to a very extensive genus, represented 
in almost all countries, and everywhere displaying the 
same habits. They live on the ground, running swiftly ; 
the females carrying their large egg-case about with them 
during the breeding season, and refusing to part with it ; 
or, if forcibly deprived of it, becoming stupid, and, as it 
were, stunned, utterly regardless of personal safety, till 
the dear object is restored, when, in an instant, animation 
and vigour return. 
As there is a Spider which descends by means of its 
web into the depths of the water, so there are others 
w’hich, by the same medium, ascend to the regions of the 
clouds. These are the Gossamer Spiders ( Linyphia , Tlieri- 
dion, &c.), minute species, scarcely exceeding in size a 
pin’s head. They have the power of shooting out filmy 
threads into the free air, which, on some undetermined 
principle, usually thought to be connected with electricity, 
rise with considerable buoyancy, and at length carry up 
the little aeronaut with them. After a while, becoming 
saturated with moisture, they descend, and large tracts of 
ground are frequently seen, in autumn, covered with the 
delicate films of flocculent web. 
