A Tropical Spider.

Otago Witness, Issue 1890, 10 February 1888, Page 36

A Tropical Spider.

■ You have been told of the huge black hairy-legged tarantula, with its great, staring, bead-like eyes and long, cruel, forceps, or nippers, who lurks in dark corners, and stows himself in the toes of your boots, and other unexpected places ; but as a general rule he can be avoided, and the web he spins inferferes but little with anyone. But there are other spiders, equally large and quite as formidable, that spread their nets across roads and paths, much to the occasional discomfort of the unwary horsemen or short-sighted folk on foot. Up in the mountains of Ceylon and India there is a fellow of this kind that spins a web like bright yellow silk, the central net of which is sft in diameter, while the supporting lines, or guys, as they are called, measure sometimes 10ft or 12ft long, and riding quick in the early morning, you may dash right into it, the stout threads twining round your face like a lace veil ; while as the creature who has woven it takes up its position in the middle, he generally catches you right on the nose, and though he seldom bites or stings, the contact of his large body and long legs is anything but pleasant. If you do forget yourself and try to catch him, bite he will, and though not venomous, as his jaws are as powerful as a bird's beak, you are not likely to forget the encounter. — From 11 Little Folk's Magazine," for November.

A Huge Gobilla. — Boston has just received from Africa the largest gorilla ever landed in the United States. His name is Jack, he is sft in height when standing erect, and measures 7ft from the end of one outstretched hand to the other. He weighs about 1251b, and exhibits enormous strength, compared with which that of man seems like a child's. He arrived in a large box made of planking 2£in thick, and when being removed from'the ship he tore large splinters from the hard wood planks with as much ease as a child would break a twig. His shoulders are immense. The expression of his face, which is black, is scowling. The eyes are small, sunken in the head, and the lips large and thin. Stones in Vegetable Gbowths. — It is a singular and still unexplained fact that in certain species of vegetable growth there arc found a variety of stones supposed to be formed and deposited in their tissues from the silicious and calcareous juices circulating in their organisms. Thus, in the bamboo a, round stone is found, at the joints of the

cane, called " tabasheer." Another curiosity of this sort is the " cocoanut stone," found in the endosperm of the cocoanut in Java and other East Indian islands. Dr Kimmins describes it as puffe carbonate of lime. It is sometimes round, sometimes pearshaped, while the appearance is that of a white pearl without much lustre. Some of the stones are as large as cherries, and as hard as felspar or opal. They are very rare, and are regarded as precious stones by the Orientals, and charms against disease or evil spirits by the natives. Stones of this kind are sometimes found in the pomegranate and other East Indian fruits. A Thikd Bye.— The discovery of a third eye in lizards has greatly stimulated research among other forms of vertebrate life, and it is now announced that a similar unpaired eye is also present in certain fishes. Mr J. Beard, of the Anatomical Institute at Freiburg, has been examining several species of the young form of the lamprey (Ammoccetes). In this stage — the larval stage of fish — the third eye is also situate over the two others, and therefore above the brain. It exceeds in size either of the paired eyes.

Eating Tiieik Weight in Food,— Many of the humbler members of the animal world are in the habit of eating a much larger amount of food daily than would represent their own weight. As a familiar example we may take the spider, which has been ascertained to devour 26 times its. weight of food in a day, and at the end of it to run away in quest of more. At this rale a man weighing between list and 12st would take for his breakfast the whole of a fat bullock ; another, supplemented by half a dozen sheep, for lunch, and wculd at a late dinner dispose of about four barrels of fish, two bullocks, eight sheep, and four pigs, all in the primest condition.