POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



137 



its prey. It has been known to allow itself 

 to be carried into the air by a large fly that 

 it has attacked rather than relinquish its 

 hold. The female tarantula lays from nine 

 hundred to a thousand eggs in a season, and 

 shows considerable maternal care. She has 

 never been known to abandon her offspring 

 until they are able to take care of themselves. 

 She hatches two broods in the year, in spring 

 and autumn, and has been known to hatch 

 three. The eggs are deposited after they are 

 hatched within a bag or cocoon almost as 

 thick as paper, which the mother makes for 

 them, and then fastens to the end of her body. 

 When the young ones are excluded from their 

 shells within the cocoon they remain in con- 

 finement until the female, instinctively 

 knowing their maturity, bites open the bag 

 and sets them free. The young of web-mak- 

 ing spiders, after leaving the egg, immediately 

 commence weaving, but the young tarantulas 

 (leading a vagrant life and having no web), 

 being incapable of protecting themselves, re- 

 main for about a fortnight with the mother. 

 This formerly gave rise to a belief that they 

 derived their nourishment from her body. 



Poisonous Spiders'. It does not seem 

 to be generally known that spiders secrete a 

 poison of a very active nature, the effects 

 of which are similar to those produced by 

 snake poisons. The bite of the common 

 house-spider is quickly fatal to flies and 

 other insects on which it preys ; when a fly 

 is bitten by a spider its whole body seems 

 seized by violent convulsive twitchiugs, and 

 death generally occurs after a few minutes. 

 The spider's poison issues from a sac and 

 duct at the base of its mandibles ; it closely 

 resembles the venomous matter secreted by 

 scorpions, and is a transparent fluid, contain- 

 ing traces of formic acid and albumin. The 

 spider is provided with a most effective ap- 

 paratus for injecting its poison, consisting 

 of modified mandibles called falces, the last 

 joint of which has a hard curved fang, with a 

 fissure near the point. The muscles used in 

 closing the mandibles also press upon the poi- 

 son-gland, causing the poison to be expelled 

 through the fissure into the wound, and 

 thence into the circulation of the victim. 

 The most venomous spider known is a 

 little fellow confined to New Zealand, called 

 by the native inhabitants "Katipo," its 



bite not infrequently causing chronic illness 

 or death. Mr. W. H. Wright describes the 

 case of a person bitten by the katipo on 

 the shoulder. " The part bitten rapidly be- 

 came swollen and looked like a large nettle- 

 rash wheal. About an hour afterward the 

 patient, could hardly walk ; the respiration 

 and circulation were both affected, followed 

 by prolonged muscular prostration. The 

 patient, however, recovered in two or three 

 days." 



African Jumpers. Dr. Bennett, of Gri- 

 qualand, writes an account of a peculiar nerv- 

 ous affection which is met with among the 

 Griquas and other natives and individuals of 

 mixed descent living in Griqualand. He sug- 

 gests that perhaps the affection is similar 

 to that prevalent among the French Canadi- 

 ans and known by the name of " Jumpers," 

 which was described by Dr. G. M. Beard in 

 The Popular Science Monthly for December, 

 1880. Dr. Bennett says : " The affection is 

 entirely confined to the male sex, and I have 

 never seen or heard of a case in the female. 

 The victims of this strange form of neurosis 

 go through the most extraordinary and gro- 

 tesque antics on the slightest provocation. 

 A whistle, a touch, a shout anything, in fact, 

 suddenand unexpected will ' set them going.' 

 Some will stiffen their limbs, make hideous 

 grimaces, and waltz about as if they had no 

 joints in their body. Others will jump wild- 

 ly about like dancing dervishes, imitating the 

 particular sound that had acted as an exciting 

 cause. Some, again, will make use of the 

 most obscene expressions on a transient im- 

 pulse, correcting themselves immediately 

 afterward and expressing their regret for 

 having used such language ; while others, on 

 the spur of the moment, will do anything 

 they are told to do. If they should happen 

 to have a piece of tobacco in their hand and 

 one should suddenly shout ' Throw it away ! ' 

 they will do so at once, running away for a 

 short distance and trembling all over their 

 body. I remember one case in particular. 

 It was that of a young man, a mason by 

 trade. He had been handed a piece of tobac- 

 co, and the person who handed it to him 

 shouted out suddenly, ' Throw it away ; it is a 

 snake ! ' He first danced about wildly for 

 a short time, and then ran away as fast aa 

 he was able ; but he had not gone far when 



