12 
Poisonous Arthropods 
“The tarantulas, no matter how often they were placed on the 
skin, handled, and irritated, could not be induced to bite either myself, 
the janitor, or the ordinary experimental animals. The objection 
that the tarantulas were weak and indifferent cannot stand, for as 
soon as I placed two of them on the shaved skin of a rabbit, instead of 
an attack on the animal, there began a furious battle between the 
two spiders, which did not cease until one of the two was killed.” 
“Since the spiders would not 
bite, I carefully ground up the 
fresh animals in physiological 
salt solution, preparing an extract 
which must have contained, in 
solution, all of the poisonous 
substance of their bodies. While 
in the case of Latrodectus, as we 
shall see, less than one specimen 
sufficed to yield an active extract, 
I have injected the filtered extract 
of six fresh Russian tarantulas, 
of which each one was much 
heavier than an average Latro¬ 
dectus , subcutaneously and into 
the jugular vein of various cats 
without the animals dying or 
showing any special symptoms. 
On the basis of my experiments I can therefore only say that the 
quantity of the poison soluble in physiological salt solution, even 
when the spiders are perfectly fresh and well nourished, is very 
insignificant. That the poison of the Russian tarantula is not 
soluble in physiological salt solution, is exceedingly improbable. 
Moreover, I have prepared alcoholic extracts and was unable to 
find them active. Since the Russian spider exceeds the Italian in 
size and in intensity of the bite, it seems very improbable to me that 
the pharmacological test of the Italian tarantula would yield 
essentially other results than those from the Russian species.” 
To the Avicularoidea belong the largest and most formidable 
appearing of the spiders and it is not strange that in the New World 
they have fallen heir to the bad reputation, as well as to the name of 
the tarantula of Europe. In this country they occur only in the 
South or in the far West, but occasionally living specimens are brought 
