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me, kept without a breakfast, made no bones of making oneof the spider, “ and left not a wreck behind.” ImmediatelyI took the victrix into my bands, and carefully examiningthe condition of her person, I evidently saw that she hadreceived three “ honourable wounds.” They did not, how-ever, prove mortal, or any thing like it; hut, they seemedto cause great pain and much inflammation; then after keep-ing her more than a week, being apparently in good healthand spirits, I gave her her liberty under my bed, where Isuppose she soon became acquainted with others of herspecies, and partook of the crumbs with which I often usedto feed them, in return for the pleasure I derived in silentlywitnessing their pretty gambols and graceful actions.
Thus much, as far as I know, for the poison of theTarantula . But Apulian gentlemen, of more than ordinaryacumen, have assured me that what is said of the poisonof that spider is nine parts out of the ten sheer fable. Allspiders have poison in their forceps for paralysing theirprey. When they are very large, some effect may be pro-duced on the particular part, even of a man, bitten thereby.
The large smooth-bodied spiders which abound in thestubble fields about both Rome and Naples, build verticalcircular webs of surprising strength. I have seen grass-hoppers, two inches and a-half long, held by them, untilthe captor seizes it, and completes the entanglement. Butthe most amusing of all spiders are those called wolf spiders,they are also common in England, but comparatively verysmall. These spiders, weave no webs, but catch their flies,by very cautiously creeping behind them and when withinthe proper distance, making a sudden leap as a cat does ona mouse. Before taking the spring, the spider attaches athread to the spot from which it starts, as a precautionagainst a miss or a fall; he then carries the fly into acorner and devours it. I have often had them take a flyout of my fingers; they have seven eyes, three in a row in