droom, so as to have
him under frequent observation. He soon grew accustomed to captivity
and ended by becoming so familiar that he would come and take from my
fingers the live Fly which I gave him. After killing his victim with
the fangs of his mandibles, he was not satisfied, like most Spiders,
to suck her head: he chewed her whole body, shoving it piecemeal into
his mouth with his palpi, after which he threw up the masticated
teguments and swept them away from his lodging.

'Having finished his meal, he nearly always made his toilet, which
consisted in brushing his palpi and mandibles, both inside and out,
with his front tarsi. After that, he resumed his air of motionless
gravity. The evening and the night were his time for taking his walks
abroad. I often heard him scratching the paper of the bag. These
habits confirm the opinion, which I have already expressed elsewhere,
that most Spiders have the faculty of seeing by day and night, like
cats.

'On the 28th of June, my Tarantula cast his skin. It was his last
moult and did not perceptibly alter either the colour of his attire or
the dimensions of his body. On the 14th of July, I had to leave
Valencia; and I stayed away until the 23rd. During this time, the
Tarantula fasted; I found him looking quite well on my return. On the
20th of August, I again left for a nine days' absence, which my
prisoner bore without food and without detriment to his health. On
the 1st of October, I once more deserted the Tarantula, leaving him
without provisions. On the 21st, I was fifty miles from Valencia and,
as I intended to remain there, I sent a servant to fetch him. I was
sorry to learn that he was not found in the jar, and I never heard
what became of him.

'I will end my observations on the Tarantulae with a short description
of a curious fight between those animals. One day, when I had had a
successful hunt after these Lycosae, I picked out two full-grown and
very powerful males and brought them together in a wide jar, in order
to enjoy the sight of a combat to the death. After walking round the
arena several times, to try and avoid each other, they were not slow
in placing themselves in a warlike attitude, as though at a given
signal. I saw them, to my surprise, take their distances and sit up
solemnly on their hind-legs, so as mutually to present the sh