1045 
COMMON INDIAN SPIDERS. 
BY 
F. H. GRAVELY, D. Sc., 
Superintendent, Government Museum, Madras. 
(iri/7i. jive plates.) 
Spiders are among the most ubiquitous creatures in India, and seem every- 
where to have an evil, but so far as I have been able to ascertain quite unjnoved, 
reputation as the cause of the painful sore popularly called a “spider-lick”. It 
is surprising therefore' to find how little is really known about them and their 
varied and interesting habits. 
The order is divided into two suborders : ( 1 ) the Araneae Theraphosae or 
ilygalomorphae characterised (a) by jaws which project straight forwards, the 
fang of each folding straight backwards along its under side and (b) by two pairs 
of conspicuous slit-like stigmata or openings into fom' corresponding lung-sacs 
in the anterior part of the ventral surface of the abdomen ; and (2) the Araneae 
Verae or Ai-achnomorphae characterised (a) by jaws which project vertically 
or obliquely downwards, the fang of each folding along its inner or hinder side 
and (b) by one instead of two pairs of more or less conspicuous pulmonary stig- 
imata, and either one or two stigmata, usually not very evident, opening into 
tracheal breathing tubes. 
The foimer suborder includes the massive hairy spiders, generally known 
as Tarantulas, and a number of smaller forms alHed to them, such as the Trap- 
door-spiders. The latter suborder is much the more extensive of the two and 
includes all the rest. The so-called Harvest-Spiders (order Phalangidea= 
Opiliones) and Camel Spiders or Jerrymungalums (order Solifugse=Solpugae) 
are not true spiders at all since, among other differences, there is no clearly 
marked division between the cephalothorax and abdomen in the fonner, and 
in the latter the jaws are of a different type from those of true spiders. 
The large Mygalomorph spiders, commonly known as Tarantulas, are much 
more massive than any others, though several groups contain species having 
about the same span. Most of them live in holes in the ground lined with silk, 
from which they emerge at night to catch their prey. The genus Poecilotheria, 
however, which is confined to India and Ceylon, lives in trees. 
All spiders possess a pair of poison-glands, opening near the tip of the fangs, 
but few seem to have the power of injecting their poison into human beings. 
It is probable, moreover, that the poison is not automatically ejected when- 
ever the fangs are used, but is under the spider’s control. That the popular 
dread of a Tarantula bite is to a considerable extent justified is proved by the 
following observation, communicated to me by Dr. Sutherland of Kalimpong. 
“ A boy of 14 years was bitten by this spider [a well grown female of Macrothele 
vid^ia) on the finger. The pain extended up the arm and down the side. After 
24 hours the finger was still swollen ”. The spider only bites on great provoca- 
tion, however, and this was the first instance that Dr. Sutherland had known, 
although the boys in his school frequently kept specimens in capti\fity. Mr. 
R. S. Lister, on the other hand, suffered no ill effects beyond a slight local swell- 
ing when bitten by a fine specimen of the much larger species Chilobrachys 
fumosus. This may have been due to the fact that we had been making 
the specimen very angry beforehand, in order to hear the faint rattling sound 
which is produced as it strikes ; and it is possible that it had uselessly emptied 
ts poison-glands before the bite was given, drops having been seen exuding 
from the tijrs of the fangs. 
