42 
MEMOIR OP 
flight, such multitudes traverse the houses in all 
directions. Wlicn one house has heen in this 
manner stripped and cleared, they pass on to the 
next, till at length they return to their holes*.” 
The above accounts, there can he little doubt, are 
to a considerable extent fabulous. That the fero- 
cious spider could easily overcome the tiny hum- 
ming-birds, if it succeeded in catching them, is by 
no means unlikely, hut it is very improbable that it 
would attempt to feed on them. The mygale in 
fact is scarcely ever seen on trees, but resides in 
tubes under ground, and generally remains close to 
the surface, while the humming-birds never alight 
hut on branches. Its food consists of wood-lice, 
subterranean crickets, and cockroaches ; and when a 
humming-hu-d was once placed for experiment in one 
of its tubes, it was not only not eaten by the spider, 
hut the latter actually quitted its hole and left it iu 
possession of the intruder. The existence of any 
bird-catching spider in America, is therefore regarded 
by those who have had ample opportunities of obser- 
vation, as wholly improbable +. The nest is very ill 
drawn, and ought to have contained only two e^. 
Plate XX. is one of the best finished of the whole, 
and is highly interesting to the entomologist, as 
containing excellent figures of the caterjiillar and 
cocoon of the giant owl-moth, Erebus Strix, Fair., 
* Insects of Surinam, p. 18. 
f A communication on this subject, made by Mr. M‘Leay 
to the Zoological Society, 'will be found in Taylor’s PhiL 
Mag. Tol. iv. p. 460. third series. 
