ix] WOLF-SPIDERS 75 



whose bite is especially feared. Among them are the 

 "Tarantula" and the "Malmignate" of southern 

 Europe, the "Yancoho" of Madagascar, the " Katipo " 

 of New Zealand, and the " Queue rouge " of the 

 West Indies. Quite an extensive literature has arisen 

 around the subject but its perusal leaves one not 

 much wiser than one was before. Circumstantial 

 accounts of deaths from the bite of a spider are 

 countered by the assertions of experimenters that 

 they have allowed themselves to be bitten repeatedly 

 by the same species without suffering any incon- 

 venience. There is at all events some basis for the 

 popular view in the fact that all spiders possess 

 a poison gland which is analogous to that of the 

 snake inasmuch as it opens near the tip of the fang 

 which is plunged into the animal attacked. In the 

 case of the large, powerful spiders of the family 

 Mygalidae, and perhaps in the tarantulas the effects 

 of the bite on higher animals are not negligible, and 

 clearly exceed the results of a mere puncture. A 

 young sparrow and a mole bitten by Fabre's taran- 

 tula in spots by no means vital died within a few 

 hours. But it is a very remarkable fact that many 

 of the most dreaded spiders are neither large nor 

 powerful. The "Malmignate," the "Vancoho," the 

 "Katipo," and the "Queue rouge' are all members 

 of the comparatively weak-jawed Theridiidae, and 

 their only striking characteristic is vivid coloration, 



