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324.]
Subsequent observation has, however, served to sustain the story of Madame Merian.[1] Baron Walckenaer and Latreille both corroborated it by other authorities; and M. Moreau da Jonnes, who studied the habits of the Mygale in Martinique, says it hunts far and wide in search of its prey, conceals itself beneath leaves for the purpose of surprising them, and climbs the branches of trees to devour the young of the humming-bird, and of the _Certhia flaveola_. As to its mode of attack, M. Jonnes says that when it throws itself on its victim it clings to it by the double hooks of its tarsi, and strives to reach the back of the head, to insert its jaws between the skull and the vertebrae.[2]
[Footnote 1: See authorities quoted by Mr. SHUCKARD in the _Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist._ 1842, vol. viii. p. 436, &c.]
[Footnote 2: At a meeting of the Entomological Society, July 20, 1855, a paper was read by Mr. H.W. BATES, who stated that in 1849 at Cameta in Brazil, he ”was attracted by a curious movement of the large grayish brown Mygale on the trunk of a vast tree: it was close beneath a deep crevice or c.h.i.n.k in the tree, across which this species weaves a dense web, at one end open for its exit and entrance. In the present instance the lower part of the web was broken, and two small finches were entangled in its folds. The finch was about the size of the common Siskin of Europe, and he judged the two to be male and female; one of them was quite dead, but secured in the broken web; the other was under the body of the spider, not quite dead, and was covered in parts with a filthy liquor or saliva exuded by the monster. ”The species of spider,”
Mr. Bates says, ”I cannot name; it is wholly of a gray brown colour, and clothed with coa.r.s.e pile.” ”If the Mygales,” he adds, ”did not prey upon vertebrated animals, I do not see how they could find sufficient subsistence.”--_The Zoologist_, vol. xiii. p. 480.]
For my own part, no instance came to my knowledge in Ceylon of a mygale attacking a bird; but PERCIVAL, who wrote his account of the island in 1805, describes an enormous spider (possibly an Epeirid) thinly covered with hair which ”makes webs strong enough to entangle and hold even small birds that form its usual food.”[1]
[Footnote 1: PERCIVAL'S _Ceylon_, p. 313.]
The fact of its living on millepeds, blattae, and crickets, is universally known; and a lady who lived at Marandahn, near Colombo, told me that she had, on one occasion, seen a little house-lizard (_gecko_) seized and devoured by one of these ugly spiders.
Walckenaer has described a spider of large size, under the name of _Olios Taprobanius_, which is very common in Ceylon, and conspicuous from the fiery hue of the under surface, the remainder being covered with gray hair so short and fine that the body seems almost denuded. It spins a moderate-sized web, hung vertically between two sets of strong lines, stretched one above the other athwart the pathways. Some of the threads thus carried horizontally from tree to tree at a considerable height from the ground are so strong as to cause a painful check across the face when moving quickly against them; and more than once in riding I have had my hat lifted off my head by one of these cords.[1]
[Footnote 1: Over the country generally are scattered species of _Gasteracantha_, remarkable for their firm sh.e.l.l-covered bodies, with projecting k.n.o.bs arranged in pairs. In habit these anomalous-looking _Epeirdae_ appear to differ in no respect from the rest of the family, waylaying their prey in similar situations and in the same manner.
Another very singular subgenus, met with in Ceylon, is distinguished by the abdomen being dilated behind, and armed with two long spines, arching obliquely backwards. These abnormal kinds are not so handsomely coloured as the smaller species of typical form.]
An officer in the East India Company's Service[1], in a communication to the Asiatic Society of Bengal, describes the gigantic web of a black and red spider six inches in diameter, (his description of which, both in colour and size, seems to point to some species closely allied to the _Olios Taprobanius_,) which he saw near Monghyr on the Ganges; in this web ”a bird was entangled, and the young spiders, eight in number, and entirely of a brick red colour, were feeding on the carcase.”[2]
[Footnote 1: Capt. Sherwill.]
[Footnote 2: _Jour. Asiat. Soc. Bengal_, 1850, vol. xix. p. 475.]
The voracious _Galeodes_ has not yet been noticed in Ceylon; but its carnivorous propensities are well known in those parts of Hindustan, where it is found, and where it lives upon crickets, coleoptera and other insects, as well as small lizards and birds. This ”tiger of the insect world,” as it has aptly been designated by a gentleman who was a witness to its ferocity[1], was seen to attack a young sparrow half grown, and seize it by the thigh, _which it sawed through_. The ”savage then caught the bird by the throat, and put an end to its sufferings by cutting off its head.” ”On another occasion,” says the same authority, ”Dr. Baddeley confined one of these spiders under a gla.s.s wall-shade with two young musk-rats (_Sorex Indicus_), both of which it destroyed.”
It must be added, however, that neither in the instance of the bird, of the lizard, or the rats, did the galeodes devour its prey after killing it.
[Footnote 1: Capt. Hutton. See a paper on the _Galeodes vorae_ in the _Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal_, vol. xi. Part 11. p. 860.]
In the hills around Pusilawa, I have seen the haunts of a curious species of long-legged spiders[1], popularly called ”harvest-men,” which congregate in hollow trees and in holes in the banks by the roadside, in groups of from fifty to a hundred, that to a casual observer look like bunches of horse-hair. This appearance is produced by the long and slender legs of these creatures, which are of a s.h.i.+ning black, whilst their bodies, so small as to be mere specks, are concealed beneath them.
The same spider is found in the low country near Galle, but there it shows no tendency to become gregarious. Can it be that they thus a.s.semble in groups in the hills for the sake of acc.u.mulated warmth at the cool alt.i.tude of 4000 feet?
[Footnote 1: _Phalangium bisignatum_.]
_Ticks_.--Ticks are to be cla.s.sed among the intolerable nuisances to the Ceylon traveller. They live in immense numbers in the jungle[1], and attaching themselves to the plants by the two forelegs, lie in wait to catch at unwary animals as they pa.s.s. A shower of these diminutive vermin will sometimes drop from a branch, if unluckily shaken, and disperse themselves over the body, each fastening on the neck, the ears, and eyelids, and inserting a barbed proboscis. They burrow, with their heads pressed as far as practicable under the skin, causing a sensation of smarting, as if particles of red hot sand had been scattered over the flesh. If torn from their hold, the suckers remain behind and form an ulcer. The only safe expedient is to tolerate the agony of their penetration till a drop of coco-nut oil or the juice of a lime can be applied, when these little furies drop off without further ill consequences. One very large species, dappled with grey, attaches itself to the buffaloes.
[Footnote 1: Dr. HOOKER, in his _Himalayan Journal_, vol. i. p. 279, in speaking of the mult.i.tude of those creatures in the mountains of Nepal, wonders what they tend to feed on, as in these humid forests in which they literally swarmed, there was neither pathway nor animal life. In Ceylon they abound everywhere in the plains on the low brush-wood; and in the very driest seasons they are quite as numerous as at other times.
In the mountain zone, which is more humid, they are less prevalent. Dogs are tormented by them: and they display something closely allied to cunning in always fastening on an animal in those parts where they cannot be torn off by his paws; on his eye-brows, the tips of his ears, and the back of his neck. With a corresponding instinct I have always observed in the gambols of the Pariah dogs, that they invariably commence their attentions by mutually gnawing each other's ears and necks, as if in pursuit of ticks from places from which each is unable to expel them for himself. Horses have a similar instinct; and when they meet, they apply their teeth to the roots of the ears of their companions, to the neck and the crown of the head. The buffaloes and oxen are relieved of ticks by the crows which rest on their backs as they browse, and free them from these pests. In the low country the same acceptable office is performed by the ”cattle-keeper heron” (_Ardea bubulcus_), which is ”sure to be found in attendance on them while grazing; and the animals seem to know their benefactors, and stand quietly, while the birds peck their tormentors from their flanks.”--_Mag. Nat. Hist._ p. 111, 1844.]
_Mites_.--The _Trombidium tinctorum_ of Hermann is found about Aripo, and generally over the northern provinces,--where after a shower of rain or heavy night's dew, they appear in countless myriads. It is about half an inch long, like a tuft of crimson velvet, and imparts its colouring matter readily to any fluid in which it may be immersed. It feeds on vegetable juices, and is perfectly innocuous. Its European representative, similarly tinted, and found in garden mould, is commonly called the ”Little red pillion.”
MYRIAPODS.--The certainty with which an accidental pressure or unguarded touch is resented and retorted by a bite, makes the centipede, when it has taken up its temporary abode, within a sleeve or the fold of a dress, by far the most unwelcome of all the Singhalese a.s.sailants. The great size, too (little short of a foot in length), to which it sometimes attains, renders it formidable, and, apart from the apprehension of unpleasant consequences from a wound, one shudders at the bare idea of such a hideous creature crawling over the skin, beneath the innermost folds of one's garments.
[Ill.u.s.tration: CERMATIA.]
At the head of the _Myriapods_, and pre-eminent from a superiorly-developed organisation, stands the genus _Cermatia_: singular-looking objects; mounted upon slender legs, of gradually increasing length from front to rear, the hind ones in some species being amazingly prolonged, and all handsomely marked with brown annuli in concentric arches. These myriapods are harmless, excepting to woodlice, spiders, and young c.o.c.kroaches, which form their ordinary prey. They are rarely to be seen; but occasionally at daybreak, after a more than usually abundant repast, they may be observed motionless, and resting with their regularly extended limbs nearly flat against the walls. On being disturbed they dart away with a surprising velocity, to conceal themselves in c.h.i.n.ks until the return of night.
But the species to be really dreaded are the true _Scolopendrae_, which are active and carnivorous, living in holes in old walls and other gloomy dens. One species[1] attains to nearly the length of a foot, with corresponding breadth; it is of a dark purple colour, approaching black, with yellowish legs and antennae, and in its whole aspect repulsive and frightful. It is strong and active, and evinces an eager disposition to fight when molested. The _Scolopendrae_ are gifted by nature with a rigid coriaceous armour, which does not yield to common pressure, or even to a moderate blow; so that they often escape the most well-deserved and well-directed attempts to destroy them, seeking refuge in retreats which effectually conceal them from sight.
[Footnote 1: _Scolopendra cra.s.sa_, Temp.]
There is a smaller species[1], that frequents dwelling-houses; it is about one quarter the size of the preceding, and of a dirty olive colour, with pale ferruginous legs. It is this species that generally inflicts the wound, when persons complain of being bitten by a scorpion; and it has a mischievous propensity for insinuating itself into the folds of dress. The bite at first does not occasion more suffering than would arise from the penetration of two coa.r.s.ely-pointed needles; but after a little time the wound swells, becomes acutely painful, and if it be over a bone or any other resisting part, the sensation is so intolerable as to produce fever. The agony subsides after a few hours'