Araneida or Spiders 9 



swept Germany at about the same time (fig. 5). The evidence that 

 the spider was the cause of the first is about as conclusive as is that 

 of the demoniacal origin of the latter. The true explanation of the 

 outbreaks is doubtless to be found in the depleted physical and mental 

 condition of the people, resulting from the wars and the frightful 

 plagues which devastated all Europe previous to, and during these 

 times. An interesting discussion of these aspects of the question is to 

 be found in Hecker. 



5. Dancing mania. Illustration from Johann Ludwig Gottfried's Chronik. 1632. 



So gross has been the exaggeration and so baseless the popular fear 

 regarding spiders that entomologists have been inclined to discredit 

 all accounts of serious injury from their bites. Not only have the 

 most circumstantial of newspaper accounts proved to be without 

 foundation but there are on record a number of cases where the bite 

 of many of the commoner species have been intentionally provoked 

 and where the effect has been insignificant. Some years ago the 

 senior author personally experimented with a number of the largest of 

 our northern species, and with unexpected results. The first surprise 

 was that the spiders were very unwilling to bite and that it required a 

 considerable effort to get them to attempt to do so. In the second 



