1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



123 



THE TARANTULA. 



PROF. COOK ADMITS THAT SPIDERS MAY BITE. 



ISS FLORENCE GREEN, Welde, Col., writes 



me as follows: " I send you a specimen of 



tarantula— not a very good one, but I hope 



you will tell us all about it in Gleanings, 



especially whether it is poisonous or not. 



The people here say that it is. We take great 



pleasure in reading the articles on insects, and we 



shall be much pleased if you will notice this." 



THE TARANTULA. 



This is one of the largest of American spiders, 

 and is found from California to Missouri, and south 

 into Texas. I send a good drawing of the speci- 

 men, so that all may see just what manner of 

 creature it is. The scientific name is Mygale 

 Hentzii. It is brown, and the drawing gives the 

 correct size. As will be seen, it, like all spiders, 

 differs from an insect in having only two parts to 

 the body— the cephalo-thorax— head-thorax— which 

 bears the mouth organs, eyes, and legs, and the ab- 

 domen. Thus the head and thorax, instead of be- 

 ing separate, as they are in insects, are united. 

 They have no antennas and no compound eyes, but 

 eight simple eyes arranged in two rows, as seen in 

 the figure. There are eight legs instead of six, as 

 in insects. Those front leg-like appendages, which 

 bear the curious claw-like organ, are not feet, but 

 the maxillary palpi, and so belong to the mouth 

 organs. 



These are ground-spiders, and live in holes dug 

 in the earth. As to whether these are very poison- 

 ous, or dangerously poisonous, T am not able to 

 say. All spiders have fang-like jaws and poison- 

 glands, with attached poison-sacs, and so can ex- 

 trude poison with their bites; but our smaller 

 spiders can not bite very severely, and the poison 

 is too scant to do harm. I never hesitate to pick 

 up a spider, and never could get one to bite me so 

 as to hurt, much less poison me. Of course, such a 

 Jumbo of a spider as the tarantula would frighten 

 most people, and we can readily see how terrible 

 stories might arise, solely as the product of fear 

 and imagination. If the tarantula were a Michi- 

 gan spider I should try it, possibly with gloved 

 hands at first, and I should not be surprised if I 

 should find that I could handle this as safely as our 

 common and smaller spiders. Where it costs noth- 

 ing, it is always best to be cautious, so I advise 

 Florence not to handle the tarantula till she proves 

 that it can not or will not bite. A. J. Cook. 



Agricultural College, Mich. 



Friend C, you say these spiders live in 

 holes dug in :the earth. That may be true ; 



but you do not give our readers any concep- 

 tion of what beautiful silken-lined holes 

 these are where the tarantulas live. More 

 than that, they have one of the prettiest lit- 

 tle doors, hinged as daintily as the lid to a 

 jewel-casket, and the spider can shut the 

 door in the face of his visitors if he choose. 

 When on my brother's farm, one of the lit- 

 tle boys brought me a nest to bring home ; 

 but in some way it was forgotten. The 

 silken gallery is a sort of tube, with suffi- 

 cient tenacity so it can be handled without 

 danger of breakage. 



AN ABC SCHOLAR 62 YEARS OLD. 



HOW SHE FINALLY TRIUMPHED OVER DIFFICUL- 

 TIES AND DISAPPOINTMENTS, AND CAME 

 OUT VICTORIOUS. 



R. ROOT, DEAR FRIEND:— We consider 

 you as such, and your name has become a 

 household word. I have been wanting 

 to write you, to ask that you would con- 

 tinue Gleanings, although we can not 

 send you the money quite yet, owing to sickness in 

 my family. My husband has been out of health the 

 past year. He has bronchial asthma, and has not 

 been able to do any thing for many months. I had a 

 hard time the past fall, getting my bees ready for 

 winter, not being strong myself. I had about 80 

 colonies. I sold 10, and doubled until I now have 

 56, all strong and in good condition for winter in 

 Root chaff hives (all but seven). I commenced the 

 season with 50 colonies. It has been a very poor 

 season in this part of the country. I got only about 

 one-fourth of a crop, and that not nearly as good as 

 in a good season, both extracted and comb honey. 



Mr. Root, 1 have wanted to tell you that I owe 

 you all the credit for my suecess, as I did not know 

 any thing, scarcely, about bees when I commenced. 

 I saw a few old copies of Gleanings at a friend's 

 house while on a visit, which gave me a great desire 

 to possess a colony of bees. We were poor, and in 

 debt. I thought I could learn to care for them, 

 and may be it would be a help. My husband had 

 no faith in the idea, so he put me off; but finally, 

 after much persuasion he purchased a light colony 

 in an old box hive in the early spring. They did 

 not cost much, as they were not worth much, for 

 they swarmed out and went off. I did not know 

 that they could be fed. T felt so bad about losing 

 my bees that my husband then bought a good col- 

 ony. I was so delighted I gave them every atten- 

 tion I could. They swarmed five times. I put them 

 in the American hive, as it was in use here at that 

 time. I was much elated with my success, and I 

 thought I was going to show my husband that I 

 could take care of bees. But I did not dare to open 

 the hives; so when winter came they all died, of 

 course, as the old colony had swarmed itself to 

 death. I was sorely tried, but I had no idea of giv- 

 ing up— I had grown wiser. I learned of the ABC 

 book. I sent for that and Gleanings, and went to 

 studying. The next spring, 1880, I had an oppor- 

 tunity of taking three colonies on shares. I had all 

 the increase and one-fourth the honey. Since then 

 I have wintered with very small loss— some winters 

 none. I now have 50 chaff hives; and as I thought 

 that number was about all I had strength to care 

 for with all my domestic duties, I have tried hard 

 to keep them down to about that, by selling some 



