P.L:A T-E. XLIX, ee 
fpecies ; immediately that the warmth of the fun has hatched them, 
they difperfe, it being no longer neceflary io live in focieties, which 
indeed, would deprive fome of their fubfiftence. 
. In February we took a neft of minute yellowifh eggs, which proved 
to be the infant offspring of the A. Diadema, they fcarcely exceeded the 
fize of a pin’s head when hatched, and were of a bright yellow colour ; 
at firlt their food was the common houfe fly, but their increafe in bulk 
was fo rapid that it was neceflary to deftroy many, to preferve a few; 
we therefore felected four fpecimens, which being fed in feparate 
glaffes, and on different infeéts, exhibited each a diftin@ degree of 
ftrength, and colour. One fpecimen deftroyed thirty of the common 
houfe fly in a day; it then appeared much enlarged, and the colours 
were almoft black, except the {pots of white, which fparkled with, — 
infinite luftre; but being confined a week without a frefh fupply, its 
colours were confiderably faded ; another week of abftinence reduced 
its colours to a pale uniform brown, the body was much wafted, and 
the creature became perfectly ravenous. It devoured a vait quantity 
.f food, and recovered much of its former colours a few hours after. 
Our largeft Spiders are incomparable for their fize, or venomous 
qualities, to the productions of America, or of the eaftern countries ; 
in Germany they are far fuperior in fize to our fpecimens, but in 
Surinam they are infinitely furpafled, Spiders of thofe parts being 
often found with legs as thick as a goofe-quill, and three or four inches 
in length, which with dificulty fupport a body as large as a pullet’s 
egg. Their {nares are commonly extended from one branch of a tree 
to another, covering the fpace of twenty or thirty-feet, and is fuffi- 
ciently ftrong to entangle the largeft infe&ts. A. Seba has figured a 
Spider cf this defcription, as defcending from an arm of a tree, into the 
neft of a fimall {pecies of Humming Bird, to fuck the blood of the 
Parent, and eggs. 
“The eyes of the Spider are a very beautiful microfcopic objeet, 
viewed either as tranfparent or opake; they have generally ¢.ght, two on 
the top of the head, that look dire€tly upwards; two in the front, a little 
below the foregoing, to difcover what pafles before it; and on each 
fide a couple more, one whereof points fideways forward, the other 
fideways backward ; fo that it can fee almoft all around it. They are 
Mmoveable, and feem to be formed of a hard, tran{parent, horny fub- 
flance, ‘The number of eyes is not the fame in all the fpecies of the 
Le : Spider. 
