THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 



55 



of fact it is not very long since the far- 

 mers of a certain district on the North 

 Coast of New South Wales applied for 

 a period of protection to be proclaimed 

 for these two snakes, as it was proved 

 beyond doubt that they kej)t the ral)bit 

 pest well under. These snakes are sel- 

 dom found doing' damage around settled 

 parts when wild game is available, but, 

 when they do trespass, it is only natu- 

 ral that the jaoultry yard suffers, 



Poultry-eating snakes are luckily rare, 

 and they generally pay the penalty. 1 

 know of one diamond ,-nake which en- 

 tered a poultry run near Sydney, and, 

 after eating a plump fowl, found that 

 its added proportions would not allow 

 it to escape through the wire netting; 

 in the morning it was found coiled up 

 asleep, and the farmer made sure that 

 it would never wake again. 



Spiders, Poisonous and Otherwise, 



By Anthony Musgrave. 



The Huntsman Spider, Isopeda vil- 

 losa, or, as it is more pojjularly called, 

 the "triantelope," is a creature familiar 

 to all Australians. Though usually 

 found lurking under the bark of trees, 

 where it may freijuently be seen mount- 



Triantelope (Isopeda villofa) with egg sac on 

 a piece of bark. 



Plioto — C. Chitton. 



ing guard over its white egg-sac, it 

 sometimes invades houses on the ap- 

 proach of wet weather, and its giant 

 and hairy form causes trepidation 

 amongst the feminine occupants there- 

 of. Certainly one can hardly help be- 

 traying an involuntary shudder at the 

 thought of such a repulsive looking 

 creature falling down the back of one's 

 neck. Witli crab-like gait, it ascends 

 the walls and explores the ceiling in 

 search of flies, and, if unmolested, does 

 good work in ridding the house of these 

 noxious insects. Though the "triante- 

 lope," like all other spiders, is equiiDped 

 with poison glands, there is little 

 likelihood that tlie small amount of 

 venom it secretes in order to kill its 

 jjrey could seriously affect a human be- 

 f^ng. 



The similarity of the name ^'trian- 

 telope" to those of the well known ani- 

 mals tarantula and antelope suggests 

 that this spider is a hybrid between the 

 two, in which case, it is, like the ma- 

 jority of Australian vernacular names, 

 grossly misleading. Nearly all large 

 spiders are dig-nifled with the name* 

 tarantula, and are credited with those 

 poisonous qualities which have made the 

 European species renowned in story and 

 legend. 



The true tarantula does not occur in 

 Australia, however, nor does it belong 

 to the same family as the triantelope, 

 though its genus Lycosa, is well repre- 

 sented here. The south of Europe, par- 

 ticularly the area bordering the Medi- 

 terranean, is the home of the tarantula. 



