ECONOMIC AND MEDICAL IMPORTANCE 245 



breaks of tarantism, which quickly spread over wide areas and 

 claimed more and more victims through mass hysteria. 



A most interesting and convincing theory suggests that the 

 dancing mania associated with the cure of tarantism is of religious 

 origin. 



Wherever the tarantati are to dance, a place is prepared for 

 them, hung about with ribbons and bunches of grapes. "The 

 patients are dressed in white, with red green or yellow ribbons, 

 those being their favourite colours. On their shoulders they cast 

 a white scarf, let their hair fall loose about their ears, and throw 

 their heads as far back as possible. They are exact copies of the 

 ancient priestesses of Bacchus." When the introduction of 

 Christianity put a stop to the public exhibition of heathen rites, 

 the Bacchantes continued their profitable profession but were 

 obliged to offer some irrelevant explanation. The local spider 

 best supplied their need. 31 



Many large species of Lycosa occur in the United States, but 

 not one has been singled out as being particularly venomous. They 

 bite readily when handled carelessly, and in some instances the 

 result is a wound as painful as a bee sting; but the effects disappear 

 much more quickly. As noted, some individuals are abnormally 

 susceptible to arthropod venom; upon them the wolf spider may be 

 able to inflict a wound of greater consequence. 



Most of the spider bites in the warm lowland region around 

 Sao Paulo in southern Brazil are ascribed to Lycosa raptoria and 

 other large and abundant wolf spiders. At night these active 

 vagrants frequently wander into houses and hide in clothing. While 

 dressing in the morning, a person may be bitten on the hands or 

 feet by the trapped spider, occasionally on the chest, abdomen, or 

 other parts of the trunk. The hematoxic venom produces an ex- 

 tremely painful local lesion that sometimes spreads over large areas 

 of the skin, reaching maximum severity where the skin is thick and 

 the blood circulation relatively poor. (Bites on spots well supplied 

 with blood vessels the blood seems to dissipate the effects of the 

 venom quickly rarely cause more than a passing injury.) When 

 allowed to run its course, the typical wound is difficult to cure, and 

 will sometimes become gangrenous. However, a serum has been 

 produced that alleviates the condition and brings on quick healing. 



81 T. H. Savory, Biology of Spiders, London, 1928, p. 127. 



