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THE GUIDE TO NATURE. 



of Europe. Indeed ( as a matter of fact, 

 some very interesting tarantular his- 

 tory has for several generations been 

 associated with that part of the world, 

 if not for a much longer time. For in- 

 stance, the dance known as "tarentella, 

 which derives its name from Taranto, 

 a city of southern Italy, also called the 

 tarantula dance, is associated with 



sufficient ground to indulge in it. This 

 belief only holds among the most su- 

 perstitious, and as an infallible cure 

 for tarantism, or tarantismus as it was 

 also called, it has long been abandoned 

 to form a part of the history of similar 

 fables. 



Texas tarantulas possess a formid- 

 able foe in a big wasp, Pompilus forino- 



PEASANTS DANCING THE TARANTELLA IN ONE OF THE HOTELS IN ITALY 



these great spiders. South European 

 tarantulas are different from ours, and 

 belong to another genus, the best 

 known species of which is "Lycosa 

 tarantula." The bite of this creature 

 is dreaded throughout the country 

 where it is found. A person when bit- 

 ten by one is said to be tarantulated or 

 suffering from "tarantism," and to be 

 saved from this fatal disease the afore- 

 said dance was invariably resorted to. 

 As we know, the tarentella is a wild. 

 whirling and rapid dance, accompanied 

 by music, in which two take part, and 

 was very prevalent during the sixteenth 

 century. In some localities it was 

 known as the tarantelle, and it actually 

 spread through southern Europe as a 

 species of mania, the mere thought on 

 the part of any person that they had 

 been bitten by a tarantula was quite 



sus, that stings and thus paralyze many 

 of these spiders, and afterwards often 

 drag them into their subterranean 

 nest, for food for their larva, which is 

 hatched out in these cavities. 



A Curious Grape Gall. 



BY W. T. WELL, FRANKLIN, PA 



For many years, a grape vine which is 

 trained alonsr the sides and end of a 

 dwelling house here, has produced an 

 abundance of very fragrant flowers, but 

 has never borne any fruit An examina- 

 tion of the flowers proved, as was ex- 

 pected, that they were all statninate. 



Recently, several strange fruitlike clus- 

 ters were noticed, situated in the axils 

 of the leaves, where the grape clusters 

 should have been : but the several sec- 

 tions of each bunch were all attached to 



