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serious effects resulting from it, also depend upon the state of 
health and constitution of the bitten person ; but, speaking 
generally, the spiders of cold countries are not formidable. 
Travellers tell us of some species which are reputed to be 
venomous. The avicularia of Linnaeus, which is found at 
Cayenne and Surinam, is considered dangerous to men, and 
its bite is always followed by grievous accidents, according 
to those writers. It is frequently fatal to the humming-birds, 
and colibris, on which it feeds. The least wound which it 
inflicts instantly kills them, which is not surprizing, consider- 
ing the strength of its hooks, and the extreme delicacy of 
those little birds. Swammerdam, and other naturalists, have 
endeavoured to discover if the araneides have really a poison 
which they insinuate into the wound, after they have bitten. 
Nothing, however, was discovered which could indicate that 
they poison the wound which they inflict. Poultry, and 
birds in general, eat these animals without suffering any in- 
convenience. It also sometimes happens to men to swallow 
small araneides in eating fruit, without experiencing any 
accident in consequence ; and some persons have even eaten 
very large ones to prove that they are not venomous. The 
astronomer Lalande y . swallowed four of them in the presence 
of M. Latreille, without any evil result*. The latter gentle- 
man is, however, of opinion that they do possess a venom, 
though it ordinarily produces no sensible effect upon us. It 
is very certain, though contrary to the testimony of some 
naturalists, that the talons of their mandibles are pierced at 
the extremity. It is equally easy to be convinced that in- 
sects which have been bitten by a tolerably strong spider, die 
almost immediately. Possi informs us that a species of 
theridion inflicts wounds which are mortal, even to man. 
* This, however, does not negative the existence of venom, as we know 
that the poison of a viper maybe taken into the stomach without injury. 
