Spiders

Ninety-nine species of spider are known in the Madeira archipelago, the largest of which is Lycosa (Trochosa) ingens, which lives on the Desertas (‘deserted islands’). The large black spider of Madeira is Lycosa (Trochosa) Blackwallii, and that of Porto Santo (‘holy harbour’) is L. tarentuloides maderiana. Epeira aurelia (the ‘tarântula’ of the Madeirans) lives on spurge bushes (tabaibeiras) and other plants, fixing the threads of its webs to them; the country people say that in these webs it writes the name by which it is known. There is no record of the bite of Epeira producing notable swelling or inflammation; the bite of the Lycosa species, spiders that prefer dark places and holes and crevices in the rocks, is perhaps more dangerous. Cyrtophora citricola, recently introduced into Madeira by an English lady, is now found on trees, telephone wires, etc., etc. The spiders of the Madeira archipelago were recorded or described in a work published by Mr Władysław Kulczyński, of Kraków, in 1899. See Władysław Kulczyński, Fauvel and Ernst Schmitz.