209 



all bis predecessors, has not taken care to assnre himself that the sickness that he de- 

 scribes was actnally caused by theLatrodectus. He reports no observations — no ex- 

 perience which proves it. 



The following paragraphs are takeu from an article by Rev. J. Black- 

 wall, in the Transactions of the Liunrean Society of London (Vol. XXI, 

 1855, p. 31) entitled " Experiments and observations on the poison of 

 animals of the order of Araneidea :" 



The numerous accounts which have been published by various authors of the sin- 

 gular effects induced in the human species by the bite of the Tarantula {Lycosa tnran- 

 ttda apnliw Walck.), and of the still more extraordinary mode of cure, together with 

 the serious and sometimes fatal consequences which have been attributed to the bite of 

 the Malmigniatte (Latrodcctus malmiguiatiis Walck.), must be regarded as amusing fic- 

 tious in the natural history of the Araneidae, * * *." 



The legitimate conclusion deducible from the experiments seems to be, that there is 

 nothing to apprehend from the bite of the most powerful British spiders, even when 

 inflicted at a moment of extreme irritation and in hot sultry weather, the pain occa- 

 sioned by it being little, if any, more than is due to the laceration and compression 

 the injured pai't has sustained. 



These experiments do not present any facts which appear to sanction the opinion 

 that insects are deprived of life with much greater celerity when pierced by the fangs 

 of spiders than when lacerated mechanically to an equal extent by other means, 

 regard being had in both cases to the vitality of the part injured, as the speed with 

 which existence terminates mainly depends upon that circumstance. It is true that 

 the catastrophe is greatly accelerated if spiders maintain a protracted hold of their 

 victims, but this result is obviously attributable to the extraction of their fluids, 

 which are transformed by oft-repeated acts of deglutition into the stomachs of th^ir 

 adversaries. 



From the entire mass of evidence supplied by the experiments takeu in the aggre- 

 gate, it may be fairly inferred that whatever properties characterize the fluid emit- 

 ted from the orifice in the fangs of the Araneidje it does not possess that degree of 

 virulence which is commonly ascribed to it, neither is it so destructive to animal life 

 when transmitted into a recent wound as it is generally supposed to be. Were I dis- 

 posed to speculate upon the manner in which it affects insects on being introduced 

 by the fangs into their vascular system, I might conjecture that it has a tendency to 

 paralyze their organs of voluntary motion, and to induce a determination of their 

 fluids to the part injured; but I refrain from dwelling upon a suggestion, however 

 plausible it may appear to be, which in the present state of our knowledge of the 

 subject can o-nly be regarded as hypothetical. 



The so-called " Katipo" of Xew Zealand is a iioisonous spider, which 

 apparently belongs to the genns Latrodectus, and from the descriptions 

 which we have seen much resembles the North American L. mactanS' 

 It is referred to by Mr. Taylor in his work "A leaf of the natural his- 

 tory of New Zealand" as " the Katipo — venomous spider — one kind red, 

 and one black with a marked red spot on its back. Their bite appears 

 to be very poisonous, occasioning a violent swelling of the part." Other 

 writers state that Mr. Taylor is mistaken in describing a red Katipo, 

 but agree with him that the one with the black body and red vermilion 

 spot on its back is the most poisonous. 



Mr. F. W. Wright, in an article published in the Transactions of the 

 New Zealand Institute for 1869, states that the spider is from one-half 

 to three-fourths of an inch in diameter, measuring across the body and 



