IO 
Poisonous Arthropods 
place, most of those experimented with were unable to pierce the skin 
of the palm or the back of the hand, but had to be applied to the thin 
skin between the fingers before they were able to draw blood. Unfor¬ 
tunately, no special attempt was made to determine, at the time, the 
species experimented with, but among them were Theridion tepi- 
dariorum, Miranda aurantia (Argiopa ), Metargiope trifasciata, Marxia 
stellata, Aranea trifolium, Misumena vatia, and Agelena ncevia. In 
no case was the bite more severe than a pin prick and though in some 
cases the sensation seemed to last longer, it was probably due to the 
fact that the mind was intent upon the experiment. 
Similar experiments were carried out by Blackwell (1855), who 
believed that in the case of insects bitten, death did not result any 
6. An American tarantula (Eurypelma hentzii). Natural size. After Comstock 
more promptly than it would have from a purely mechanical injury of 
equal extent. He was inclined to regard all accounts of serious 
injury to man as baseless. The question cannot be so summarily 
dismissed, and we shall now consider some of the groups which have 
been more explicitly implicated. 
The Tarantulas. — In popular usage, the term “ tarantula ” is 
loosely applied to any one of a number of large spiders. The famous 
tarantulas of southern Europe, whose bites were supposed to cause the 
dancing mania, were Lycosidae, or wolf-spiders. Though various 
species of this group were doubtless so designated, the one which 
seems to have been most implicated was Lycosa tarantula (L.), 
(fig. 4). On the other hand, in this country, though there are many 
Lycosidae, the term “tarantula” has been applied to members of the 
superfamily Avicularoidea (fig. 6), including the bird-spiders. 
Of the Old World Lycosidae there is no doubt that several species 
were implicated as the supposed cause of the tarantism. In fact, as 
we have already noted, the blame was sometimes attached to a scor- 
