276 



AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



was bitten by one of the large, beautiful Nephilas who spin their huge 

 orbwebs in the forests of Jamaica. Coming through the woods at early- 

 dawn his face came into collision with one of the strong webs. He stopped 

 to brush it ofP, and immediately felt some large insect run down his body, 

 which presently bit him on his great toe. The pain was less severe than 

 that following the sting of a wasp, or even the puncture of a Tabanus ; 

 but the man described it as liaving three distinct paroxysms — if one may 

 use such a term for so small a matter. The pain was not of long duration. 

 Here, as in so many other cases, the record fails positively to show that 

 the wound was really inflicted by a spider, but that may be inferred. 



An English gentleman records that while removing some old boxes 

 he felt a sharp nip in the hand between the fore linger and thumb, and 

 found a large spider fastened on his hand, which at first he could not 



push off, as his fangs were fastened in the skin. 

 After killing the spider he found two small holes, 

 one twenty-fourth of an inch apart, filled with 

 blood. . There was a tingling sensation in the part 

 for eighteen hours afterward, with a tenderness in 

 the wound. ^ 



It must be confessed that the experiments of 

 naturalists, as well as their observations, are un- 

 favorable to the popular belief in the dangerous 

 character of the spider's stroke, except in the case 

 of the very large species, such as our American 

 tarantula. I can only say for myself, that having 

 handled thousands of living spiders, taking them 

 up with my fingers, and permitting them to crawl 

 on hands or face, I have never experienced the 

 slightest inconvenience, and have only been con- 

 sciously bitten two or three times. Other than this, 

 if I have been pricked by the fangs, the wound has been so insignificant 

 as entirely to escape notice. 



Yet the belief in the venomous, if not fatal, character of the spider's 

 stroke is so deeply rooted in the popular mind that it would be almost 

 impossible to eradicate it. The question arises, is not this 

 general belief worthy of credehce? If it were unsupported by 

 facts, I certainly should not hesitate to answer, no ! There is so 

 much ignorance, amounting even to absurdity, as to the danger- 

 ous character of many insects and other inferior animals, and ignorance 

 has so often shaded into superstition, that one is justified in holding even 

 a widespread popular opinion of no value until the contrary is demon- 

 strated. However, the problem is much confused by what appear to be 



Fig. 253. The Saltigrade spider, 

 Phidippus morsitans (Walck.), 

 much enlarged. 



The Pop 

 ular No- 

 tion. 



' Science Gossip, page 165, 1868. 



