[Footnote 1:  Over the country generally are scattered species of Gasteracantha, remarkable for their firm shell-covered bodies, with projecting knobs arranged in pairs.  In habit these anomalous-looking Epeiridae 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.]

Separated by marked peculiarities of structure, as well as of instinct, from the spiders which live in the open air, and busy themselves in providing food during the day, the Mygale fasciata is not only sluggish in its habits, but disgusting in its form and dimensions.  Its colour is a gloomy brown, interrupted by irregular blotches and faint bands (whence its trivial name); it is sparingly sprinkled with hairs, and its limbs, when expanded, stretch over an area of six to eight inches in diameter.  It is familiar to Europeans in Ceylon, who have given it the name, and ascribed to it the fabulous propensities, of the Tarentula.[1]

[Footnote 1:  Species of the true Tarentulae are not uncommon in Ceylon; they are all of very small size, and perfectly harmless.]

By day it remains concealed in its den, whence it issues at night to feed on larvae and worms, devouring cockroaches[1] and their pupae, and attacking the millepeds, gryllotalpae, and other fleshy insects.  The Mygale is found abundantly in the northern and eastern parts of the island, and occasionally in dark unfrequented apartments in the western province; but its inclinations are solitary, and it shuns the busy traffic of towns.

[Footnote 1:  Mr. EDGAR L. LAYARD has described the encounter between a Mygale and a cockroach, which he witnessed in the madua of a temple at Alittane, between Anarajapoora and Dambool.  When about a yard apart, each discerned the other and stood still, the spider with his legs slightly bent and his body raised, the cockroach confronting him and directing his antennae with a restless undulation towards his enemy.  The spider, by stealthy movements, approached to within a few inches and paused, both parties eyeing each other intently:  then suddenly a rush, a scuffle, and both fell to the ground, when the blatta’s wings closed, the spider seized it under the throat with his claws, and dragging it into a corner, the action of his jaws was distinctly audible.  Next morning Mr. Layard found the soft parts of the body had been eaten, nothing but the head, thorax, and elytra remaining.—­Ann. & Mag.  Nat.  Hist. May, 1853.]