10° to the left of Capella) ; from thence it glided slowly across 
the sky, shining with a brilliant gveez light, and exhibiting a pear- 
shaped disc of one-third of the apparent diameter of the full 
“moon. When it had arrived at the middle of its path (being 
almost due north), its velocity abated, and its colour changed to 
_ a whitish-dlue. The meteor, accompanied by a diminutive red 
_ tail, and followed by a train of sparks, then regained its original 
velocity, and gradually approaching the horizon, eventually 
disappeared behind a cloud lying parallel, and close to the 
horizon in the N.N.W. The whole time occupied during its 
flight being 2°5”. In my letter reporting the auroral display of 
_ Noy. to last year, I suggested the application of Photography to 
_ the solution of auroral problems ; might I venture to ask if any 
of your photographic correspondents have been able, during the 
displays of this year, to prove the possibility of taking auroral 
photos? I think the results would be interesting to most of your 
readers. RoBERT McCLurE 
Glasgow, Nov. 4 
On Wednesday night the 6th November, whilst looking from 
this place over the sea, directly west, a few minutes before ten 
o'clock, I saw a meteor of large size subtending I should think 
one-sixth the angular magnitude of the moon. It was accom- 
_ panied by a short scintillating train, and moved slowly quite 
parallel with the horizon directly north. Its elevation was about 
15°, and its rate of motion I should think 14° per second. The 
night was dark and somewhat cloudy, and the line described by 
the meteor seemingly quite straight, - D, WINSTANLEY 
Blackpool, Nov. 8 
a 
Day Aurora 
WirTH respect to the ‘‘ Day Aurora” alleged to have been 
_ seen by Secchi (see vol. vi.[p. 492) his description is not that ofan 
_ aurora, especially as regards its position, which was far from 
_ being at right angles to the magnetic meridian ; and as regards 
_ the “fantastic rays (jets filamenteux)” whose ‘forms perfectly 
_ resembled those of the solar protuberances,” they would therefore 
__ be very unlike the rays of an aurora, T, W. BackHousE 
- Sunderland, Oct. 30 
ql 
= 
q 
| JHE KATIPO OR VENOMOUS SPIDER OF 
NEW ZEALAND 
3 ipe OM the interesting “ Field Notes of a Naturalist in 
i New Zealand,” which have been appearing in the 
Field for some weeks, we extract the following description 
of this hitherto little-known animal. 
Among the invertebrata there is a venomous spider 
known as the “katipo ;’ and, as this is almost the only 
noxious inhabitant of the land, it may be interesting to 
_ give some account of it, especially as there are some very 
curious points in its natural history. The first scientific 
_ notice of the existence of a poisonous spider in New 
_ Zealand was furnished by Dr. Ralph, in a communication 
- to the Linnean Society in 1856 (see Journal Proc. Lin. 
Soc., vol. i., 1856, pp. 1, 2). Dr. Ralph’s paper contained 
a short description of the full-grown spider, observations 
on its nesting habits, and an account of experiments which 
_ ke had made in order to test the potency of its venom. 
_ The native name, katipo, signifies “‘ night stinger” (being 
derived from two words, #akazz, to sting, and Zo, the 
night), and, although more strictly applicable to the 
venomous spider, it is often used to denote a wasp or 
other stinging insect. The species has been described 
and figured in the Transactions of the New Zealand 
Institute (1870, vol. iii. pp. 56-59), under the name of 
Latrodectus katipo, and is closely allied to, if not identical 
with, one inhabiting Australia. The exact range of this 
spider in New Zealand has not been accurately ascer- 
tained ; but it appears to be rather local in its distribution, 
while its habitat is’ strictly confined to the sand hills skirt- 
ing the sea-shore, Along the coast from Wainui to 
Bt 
NATURE 
1 
29 
Waikanae (on the north side of Cook’s Strait) it is ex- 
cessively abundant. From Waikanae to Horowhenua it 
is comparatively scarce ; but at the latter place, and fora 
few miles farther north, it is said to be abundant. At 
Manawatu, and thence along the coast for twenty or thirty 
miles, it is very rare. At the mouth of the Wanganui 
river, again, itis very abundant ; and a story is still current 
among the natives of the district about a fishing party, all 
of whom were bitten by this dreaded spider, and in two 
cases with fatal results, 
The writer then adduces several instances to prove 
that the bite of the spider is occasionally fatal, and cer- 
tainly very painful and distressing. But, he says, “Ihave 
Satisfied myself that, in common with many other 
venomous creatures, it only exerts its dreaded power as a 
means of defence, or when greatly irritated; for I have 
observed that on being touched with the finger it instantly 
folds its legs, rolls over on its back, and simulates death, 
remaining perfectly motionless till further molested, when 
it attempts to escape, only using its fangs as the dernier 
ressort |” 
The cocoon or nest of the katipo is perfectly spherical 
in shape, opaque, yellowish white, and composed of a 
silky web of very fine texture. The eggs are of the size 
of mustard seed, perfectly round, and of a transparent 
purplish red. They are agglutinated together in the form 
of a ball, and are placed in the centre of the cocoon, the 
exterior surface of which is sometimes encrusted with sand. 
The spider itself undergoes the following changes in its 
Pont towards maturity :—In the very young state it 
as its body white, with two linear series of connected 
black spots, and an intermediate line of pale red; under 
parts brown ; legs light brown, with black joints. In the 
next stage, the fore part of the body is yellow, with two 
black “ eye spots ;” sides black, with transverse marks of 
yellowish white; dorsal stripe bright red, commencing 
higher up than in the adult, and with the edges serrated. 
At a more advanced age the stripe on the back is brighter, 
with a narrow border of yellow, and the thorax and legs 
are nearly black, In the fully adult condition, the female 
of this spider is very handsome both in form and colour. 
Examples differ considerably in size, the body, which is 
almost spherical, varying in development from the size of 
a pigeon-shot to that of a small green pea ; and in the 
largest specimens the outspread legs, measuring across, 
cover a space of only three-quarters of an inch ; thorax 
and body shining, satiny black ; a stripe of bright orange- 
red passes down the centre of the body, the edges being 
tinged with yellow. At the anterior extremity this stripe 
is broad and angular, and is surmounted by an open 
narrow mark of white in the form of a nail head ; below 
this, and immediately above the junction of the thorax, 
there are two divergent spots of orpiment yellow, with 
white edges ; legs’black, with the extremities inclining ‘to 
brown. The male is considerably smaller, and has the 
body shining blackish-brown, with an obscure narrow line 
of yellow down the centre of the back, broader towards 
the posterior extremity, and a similar interrupted line on 
each side of the body. 
The spider here described belongs to a genus which 
contains several species in other parts of the world, also 
reputed venomous. Walckenaér, writing of the Latrodec- 
tus malmignatus, an allied species, common in Sardinia, 
Corsica, and parts of Italy, remarks :—“ This spider is 
certainly poisonous ; its bite causes, they say, in man 
pain, lethargy, and sometimes fever ;” and Mr. Abbot, in 
his account of Za¢rodectus in his “Georgian Spiders,” 
states that its bite is “undoubtedly venomous.” It is 
curious, also, as already noticed by Dr. Powell, that the 
species of this genus,so widely distributed over the world 
as to be found in Europe, America, Australia, and New 
Zealand, should all agree in being black with red mark- 
ings, for colour is of all characteristics the most variable, 
and especially soin the case of spiders, 
