182 ON ANIMAL AND 



so much has been said, is of the spider tribe, 

 possessing, in most particulars, all the characters 

 peculiar to thai species of insect. It is a native 

 of Italy, Cyprus, Barbary, and the East Indies : 

 in the two former countries credulity on the 

 one hand, and imposition on the other, have 

 given it a quality which it does not merit; 

 viz. the power of destroying human life by its 

 bite, unless timely prevented by the most fasci- 

 nating music. Accordingly, travellers in those 

 countries have furnished us with a number of 

 amusing anecdotes, strongly illustrative of the 

 effects of superstition on the human mind, when 

 unenlightened by the beams of science, or where 

 tradition has closed the door to reason and the 

 most obvious conviction. These anecdotes, which 

 must be familiar to every reading person, we do not 

 deem necessary here to detail ; but shall merely 

 observe, that the bite of the tarantula is never 

 inflicted but when accidentally irritated; and 

 though it always produces most severe pain, 

 swelling, and discoloration of the part, and in 

 constitutions of particular irritability, fainting fits, 

 spasmodic affections, and even convulsions; yet 

 it has in no instance, within my experience, 

 (founded upon a four years' residence in the 

 south part of Europe and in Barbary,) proved 

 fatal ; nor could I learn from others, that such 

 an effect was ever produced ; the symptoms being 

 readily removed by the remedies, which I shall 



