WILD LIFE IN CALIFORNIA 



37 



that I fed to her in the more than two and 

 one-half years of her captivity, excepting the 

 last three flies I gave to her; these were left 

 hanging in the web at the place where she 

 had finished with them. 



This radical change in her habits of neat- 

 ness and order cause me to think that pos- 

 sibly the Black Widow was reaching her age 

 limit and probably would not live much longer. 

 However that may be, I cannot repress the 

 thought that the last long fast at least 

 hastened her demise. 



Referring to my notes on the conduct of 

 the spider while under observation I find the 

 following taken from the record of her ac- 

 tions and disposition relating to the second 

 fly fed to her: "The spider bound the extreme 

 ends of the two wings with the hind legs of 

 the fly securely to the body; these being the 

 most troublesome appendages, were the first 

 dealt with, indicating caution and method on 

 part of the, spider. She then proceeded to se- 

 cure the other legs of the fly from movement 

 by binding them up to the body with webbing. 

 In both actions this was handled or spun out 

 with her hind feet. I could not see that she 

 bit this fly during the trussing process." 



After two or three weeks of captivity the 

 Black "Widow ceased to be disturbed or 

 alarmed when I picked up her bottle pre- 

 paratory to feeding her. On the contrary, 

 if the movement of the body up and down 

 mentioned in the description of her dealing 

 with the first fly was a necessary or habitual 

 act in preparation for an attack on a victim, 

 she certainly must have learned to recognize 

 in my act of picking up her bottle at feeding 

 time, for she invariably went through those 

 motions on all such occasions and seldom de- 

 layed pouncing upon the flies as soon as 

 introduced. 



On the whole I think the Widow probably 

 lived a longer life, with more agreeable ex- 

 periences, in captivity than if she had been 

 left in the hole under the rock where I found 

 her. Her enforced quarters were larger, and 

 besides she was immune from attack by in- 

 sectiverous birds and reptiles and the greater 

 danger from spider-hunting wasps. 



As with snakes, many people have instinctive 

 feelings of revulsion toward spiders. Though 

 they may be fond of animals, snakes and 

 spiders are the last things they would think 

 of making pets of. Though I confess to this 

 feeling in some degree, it does not go to the 

 extent that I want to kill all these forms of 

 life I meet with. I am free in mind to pass 

 by all that are not harmful and dangerous to 

 human life. It is known that the non-poi- 

 sonous snakes are not only harmless but are 

 a decided benefit in the help they give the 

 farmers in keeping down the numbers of 

 destructive rodents that infest the country. 

 As to spiders, it is a question whether they 

 are dangerous, or harmful, or not. It is pos- 

 sible that their appearance belies their power 

 to harm. Spiders will bite, but some authori- 

 ties say the effect is less serious than the sting 

 of a bee and no worse than a wound caused 

 by a mosquito. Others, while admitting this 

 to be true as to the spiders infesting the 

 temperate zones, say there are species in the 



tropics capable of inflicting wounds that in 

 some instances may involve death. Frank E. 

 Lutz of the American Museum of Natural 

 History says in his "Field Book of Insects"; 

 "The bite of all spiders is poisonous — that is 

 the way they kill their food — but there is so 

 little poison and so few spiders are strong 

 enough to bite through the human skin, even 

 if they would try, that spiders are not danger- 

 ous." Again he says, speaking of a black 

 spider that lives under stones or pieces of wood, 

 "It is the only spider of Northeastern United 

 States concerning which there is even mod- 

 erate evidence of its seriously biting human 

 beings." 



On the other hand, the standard dictionary 

 says: "Some spiders are by far the most 

 venomous animals in existence in proportion 

 to their size; that the bite of a spider can be 

 fatal to man (and there are authentic in- 

 stances of this) implies a venom vastly more 

 powerful than most poisonous snakes." 



When considering that the dictionary com- 

 ment applies to spider? of the whole world, 

 including the tropics, and Lutz' description 

 only to the species infesting the northeastern 

 part of the United States, the two statements 

 may be regarded as less conflicting than care- 

 less reading would make it appear. 



So far as my own observations in this mat- 

 ter goes in affording any evidence it would 

 be to sustain the conclusions of Dr. Lutz. I 

 have seen many serious-looking wounds that 

 people attributed to the bites of spiders, but 

 in every instance the bites have been inflicted 

 at night while the victim was asleep. 



Inasmuch as we have in this section of the 

 country a species of hemiptera that is quite 

 numerous at times, which enters our homes, 

 especially in the country, in search of insects 

 that infest houses, and is not backward in 

 inserting its sharp dagger-like beak into human 

 flesh, I think it more logical to charge it with 

 the offense laid to the spider. This insect is a 

 reduviidae and is commonly called the "Kissing 

 bug." The sting made by its proboscis is not 

 only very painful, causing large inflamed 

 swellings at time, but the effect is more last- 

 ing than any) insect wound I know of. Some- 

 times in some districts they are more numer- 

 ous than spiders, yet while everybody knows 

 the latter when they meet with it, not one in 

 500 people can identify the Kissing bug 

 or is aware of its harmful character. It 

 would be a good idea for those people unac- 

 quainted with the bug to familiarize them- 

 selves with its appearance, for it is one of the 

 things in this life that is best to avoid 

 socially. It is a little over a half-inch in 

 length and has somewhat the general appear- 

 ance of a common beetle, though it does not 

 have the chitinous wing covers that character- 

 izes the latter kind of insects. When not fly- 

 ing it keeps its wings folded close to its body. 

 There are six or more specie in the United 

 States, which vary to some extent in shape 

 and markings, but the one most frequently 

 found in our dwellings is marked with red on 

 wings and body. 



Spiders do not eat, or masticate, the solid 

 parts of the insects they kill for food, but only 

 suck the juices of the body. Their mouths are 



