imaginable. A little beyond the bridge there was an extensive
grove of orange and other trees, which yielded me a rich harvest.
The Aldeia road runs parallel to the river, the land from the
border of the road to the indented shore of the Tocantins forming
a long slope which was also richly wooded; this slope was
threaded by numerous shady paths, and abounded in beautiful
insects and birds. At the opposite or southern end of the town,
there was a broad road called the Estrada da Vacaria-- this ran
along the banks of the Tocantins at some distance from the river,
and continued over hill and dale, through bamboo thickets and
palm swamps, for about fifteen miles.

At Cameta I chanced to verify a fact relating to the habits of a
large hairy spider of the genus Mygale, in a manner worth
recording. The species was M. avicularia, or one very closely
allied to it; the individual was nearly two inches in length of
body, but the legs expanded seven inches, and the entire body and
legs were covered with coarse grey and reddish hairs. I was
attracted by a movement of the monster on a tree-trunk; it was
close beneath a deep crevice in the tree, across which was
stretched a dense white web. The lower part of the web was
broken, and two small birds, finches, were entangled in the
pieces; they were about the size of the English siskin, and I
judged the two to be male and female. One of them was quite dead,
the other lay under the body of the spider, not quite dead, and
was smeared with the filthy liquor or saliva exuded by the
monster. I drove away the spider and took the birds, but the
second one soon died. The fact of species of Mygale sallying
forth at night, mounting trees, and sucking the eggs and young of
hummingbirds, has been recorded long ago by Madame Merian and