206 



(6) He could liaatlle poison oak or ivy with impuuity. 



(7) He was bitten on the 19th of October, 1S67. He was hauling wood at the time. 

 It was a damp cold moruing and he could uot have been overheated. As soon as the 

 sensation of pain had passed oft' the man felt no fui'ther incouvenience till towards 

 the middle of the day. (He described the pain from the sting as somewhat similar 

 to the sting of a wasp.) About half past 11 o'clock he came to the house and told me 

 that he had been bitten by a spider. I treated the matter lightly, thinking he would 

 have been dead by that time if it was going to hurt him at all, but he complained of 

 pains running through his whole body. Finally, he went to town (only 1 mile dis- 

 tant), saying he was going to get whisky. About 1 o'clock he came home. Said 

 he felt no better. Said the paiu had settled in his bowels. In a short while he com- 

 menced to have spasms. (He told me lie had only bought 5 cents' worth of corn 

 whisky.) When the spasm came on I was greatly frightened. As I kuew of no rem- 

 edy but whisky, I gave it to him. In all, I gave him three half pints. He seemed re- 

 lieved of pain about 3 o'clock, and did some work about the barn. About 4 o'clock the 

 pains came on again and the spasms with them. He had only two spasms. He never 

 recovered from the second one, but remained in a state of unconsciousness till his 

 death. 



I have another man working for me who was bitten by oue of the spiders about 

 three years ago. I showed him the spider which Colouel Keogh forwarded to you, 

 and he recognized it at once as being exactly like the oue which had bitten him. As 

 this man's experience with a spider bite is rather peculiar, I will give it to you as he 

 has told me. He was at work in a corn tield about the middle of June. It was the 

 afternoon of the day. He went to a spring near by for a drink of water. While 

 resting a moment at the spring the spider bit him on the aukle. He spit tobacco 

 juice on the sting and soon felt no pain. (He describes the pain from the sting as 

 more like a brier scratch.) He resumed the work, but in an hour or so felt a sudden 

 shock or pain run through his whole body. As one shock would pass oft" another 

 would come on. He unhitched his horse and attempted to ride home, but soon fell 

 oft' the horse in an unconscious condition. His emiiloyer found him by the road side 

 and had him taken home. This gentleman has since told me the negro seemed per- 

 fectli^ crazy. He told what had bitten him between spasms of pain. The only remedy 

 he knew of was whisky. He gave the negro three pints, and it had no intoxicating 

 eft'ects. The negro had spasms one after another for several days. It was three weeks 

 before he stopped having them, and it was two months before he was able to do any 

 work. He has not entirely recovered yet. Whenever he becomes overheated he has to 

 stop woik. He has a numb sensation pass over him. His aukle did uot swell at all. 

 These same kind of pimples which I noticed on the neck of the man that died ap- 

 peared on his ankle, and break out afresh every time he becomes overheated from 

 exercise. 



The spider — Latrodectus mactans — is congeneric with the well-knowii 

 "Maluiigiiiatte" of South Euro\m {Latrodectus malmigniatus Walck.), 

 about the venomous nature of whose bite there is so much contradic- 

 tory testimony. 



It will be interesting- in this connection to quote a few of the pub- 

 lished opinions of naturalists upon this subject. 



In the Annals of the Entomological Society of France for 1842, page 

 205, is a notice of different facts which confirm the venomous property 

 oH Lafrodectus mahnigniatiis, b\' Dr. Graells, translated from the Spanish 

 by Leon Fairmaire. He states in brief that prior to 1830, in the dis- 

 trict of Tarragone (Department of Cologne), there was no knowledge of 

 any spider which gave poisonous bites, but that in the years 1830, 1833, 



