S14 THE TARANTULA. 



dwelling is about four inches deep, and half 

 an inch wide ; at the bottom it is curved, 

 and there the insect sits in wet weather, and 

 cuts its way out, if water gains upon it. It 

 weaves a net at the mouth of the hole. 

 These Spiders do not live quite a year. In 

 July they shed their skin. They lay about 

 seven hundred and thirty eggs, which are 

 hatched in the spring : but the parent does 

 not live to see her progeny, as she expires 

 early in the winter. The ichneumon fly is 

 their greatest enemy. 



The bite of the Tarantula is said to occa- 

 sion an inflammation in the part, which in a 

 few hours brings on sickness, difficulty of 

 breathing, and universal faintness ; the same 

 symptoms return annually, in some cases, for 

 several years ; and at last terminate in death. 

 Music, it has been pretended, is the only 

 cure. Such are the circumstances that have 

 been generally related, and long credited, 

 concerning the bite of this animal But it is 

 now generally agreed, that no such effects 

 attend this bite : and that the exhibitions 

 of dancing to music by persons pretending to 

 be so affected, are only villainous deceptions 



