272 



AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



Fig. 248. A falx and'fang (f ) of 

 Drassus. (After Beck.) 



Walck- 



enaer's 



Witness. 



In order to compare the effects of spider venom with that of hymeii- 

 opterous insects, Mr. Blackwall touched to his tongue the poison emitted 

 under like circumstances with the above from the sting of the common 



wasp (Vespa vulgaris), the hive bee (Apis melifi- 

 ca), and the humble bee (Bombus terrestris). A 

 powerfully acrid, pungent taste was the immediate 

 consequence of applying the insect poison to the 

 tongue. 



A contrast equally remarkable was evinced 

 when these insect fluids were transmitted into the 

 recent wound. That secreted by the in- 

 ?°*^^^" sects caused inflammation, accompanied 

 by acute pain, effects which, if pro- 

 duced at all by that secreted by the spiders, were 

 scarcely appreciable. 

 Baron Walckenaer also experimented upon his own person, allowing 

 himself to be bitten by the largest species of spiders around Paris without 

 consequent swelling or reddening. The small punctures made by 

 the spider's fangs gave him no other sensation than would have 

 been produced by a pin or a needle thrust into the finger. It 

 is his judgment that the venom of a spider has not as great 

 an effect upon man as that of a wasp, bee, bed bug, flea, or even smaller 

 insects. ^ 



Rev. Pickard-Cambridge often tested the absence of venom in some of 

 the strongest British species.^ Duges made experiments upon himself with 

 the largest spiders, such as Segestria and Tegenaria, 

 without producing any physical pain or wound that 

 could not readily be dissipated. M. Eugene Simon re- 

 cords that he was struck in his finger by the fangs of 

 Lycosa tarentula, whicli affected him after the fashion 

 of the prick of two needles. The pain was lively, the 

 blood flowed, but the little wound healed without any 

 special ill effects.^ A correspondent of " Science Gos- 

 sip"^ says that his son was bitten in his closed hand fio. 249. The sternum and 



!_ -1 T • 1 1 i-i. X n 11 1 i • XJ- mouth organs of Epeira 



by a spider, which left two small blood stains. xllS quadrata, viewed from 



wife was bitten, but there was simply a slight swelling, beneath. (After stave- 

 Another correspondent writes that a boy was bitten at 

 Cape Colony by a large spider, which is called a tarantula, so badly as to 

 make his finger bleed, but no further effect followed. 



Mr. George B. Lownes, a gentleman living in the suburbs of Phila- 

 delphia, informed me that on one occasion, while walking through a lane, 



1 Apteres, Vol. II., page 423. ^ Spiders of Dorset, Vol. I., Introduction, page xxv. 



^ Ilistoire Naturelle des Araignecs, page 27. 



* G. B., Science Gossij), September, 18G8, page 2^1. 



