iS4 OUR INSECT FRIENDS AND FOES 



them, the newly hatched youngsters cluster, 

 carefully guarded by their parent until they are 

 able to fend for themselves. Most famous of 

 all the Wolf Spiders is the Tarantula, one of the 

 largest of the European Spiders, that derives 

 its name from Taranto, in the neighbourhood of 

 which place it is very common. It was the bite 

 of this Spider which was supposed to cause 

 the curious dancing madness or mania called 

 Tarantism, an epidemic, nervous disease of the 

 Middle Ages, resembling in some respects the 

 equally famous St. Vitus's Dance. Although 

 the bite of the Tarantula Spider is painful and 

 may give rise to some feverishness or other 

 disagreeable symptoms, its effects have been 

 grossly exaggerated. 



The Crab-Spiders or Thomisidce are an 

 interesting family, which have gained their 

 popular name partly from their short bodies 

 and large arms, partly from their crab-like way 

 of running sideways and of simulating death 

 when alarmed. Many of these Spiders are 

 beautiful in colour, resembling the green of 

 the foliage or the delicate tints of the flowers 

 among which they lie in wait to capture their 

 prey. One of these Thomisidae is fairly common 

 in the New Forest, and may frequently be seen in 

 the late spring and early summer on the flower 

 spikes of the early orchis (O. mascula), the un- 

 opened buds of which its body closely resembles 

 in shape and colour. The Spider remains abso- 

 lutely motionless among the unopened rounded 

 buds at the tops of the flower-spikes, awaiting the 

 insects, chiefly species of bumble-bees, which visit 



