CHAPTER VI: 



Superfamily AVICULARIOIDEA (A-vic-u-la-ri-oi'de-a) 



The Tarantulas 



.-• 



Fig. 211. A TARANTULA, EURYPELMA HENTZII 



The superfamily Avicularioidea includes the large spiders 

 that are well-known in the warmer parts of our country as taran- 

 tulas and certain other closely allied forms. 



By many writers this group of families is termed the Mygalo- 

 morphas; but as the old generic name My gale, long used for these 

 spiders, was first used for a genus of mammals, it and its deriva- 

 tives cannot be 

 properly applied 

 to spiders. 



The com- 

 mon name ta- 

 rantula was first 

 applied to an 

 European spider 

 which does not 

 belong to the 



Avicularioidea, Lycosa larentula, the spider that was supposed 

 to cause tarantism by its bite.* The name has been trans- 

 ferred in this country to the members of this superfamily 

 and is so firmly established in the language of the people of 

 the South and West that it would be impossible to change it. 

 I have therefore adopted it. In this sense it is spelled ta- 

 rantula not tarentula. This matter is further complicated by 

 the fact that the generic name Tarantula must be used for a 

 genus of tailless whip-scorpions having been first used in this 

 sense (see p. 20). But the confusion need not be great, as 

 these whip-scorpions occur only in the extreme southern parts 

 of our country, and are known by the latter name. 



*Tarantism is an hysterical disease which was common in southern Europe in medieval times. 

 It wa.3 characterised by an inordinate desire for dancing; it arose in individuals that believed they 

 had been bitten by this spider and was then contagious. 



228 



