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never actually seen the Katipo, describes it more correctly as " a small black 

 spider with a red stripe on its back." Di'. Ralph, in the paper already i-eferred 

 to, mentions that this spider presents a very different appearance at different 

 periods of its age, but he does not attempt to describe these pi"ogTessive changes 

 towards maturity. Having recently, through the kind assistance of Mr. Knocks, 

 of Otaki, obtained a fine collection of live Katipos, in every stage of gi'owth, 

 together with their cocoons or nests, I am enabled to place before the Society 

 a m.ore detailed description of the species than has ever yet appeared. 



There is a small extent of sand-hills near Waikanae, on the west coast, 

 noted among the natives for the abundance of Katipo. A settler residing 

 there, named Jenkins, assured me that he coiild without difficulty "fill a qua.rt 

 measure in less than a day." In 1857, I collected in that locality a consider- 

 able number of them, and kept them alive for several weeks in order to study 

 their habits. And I may here mention a circumstance illustrative of the 

 ■wonderful tenacity of life possessed by some of the Arachnida. I shut up a 

 full-grown Katipo in a chemist's chip-box, on the 11th May, and placing it 

 among other objects in my cabinet^ it was overlooked and forgotten. I conse- 

 quently did not open the chip-box again imtil the 8th October following, when 

 I found the spider alive and active, and apparently none the worse for five 

 months' fasting ! As, however, in other instances I have known them perish 

 at the end of a week for want of food, I am inclined to consider the above case 

 corroborative of the Native account, that on the approach of cold weather the 

 Katipo retires to a cell underground, and passes the winter in a torpid state, 

 and that in this condition it may be handled with perfect impunity. 



Mr. Taylor, in the published account already noticed, states that " the 

 Katipo does not make any web," but this is a mistake, for on examining its 

 haunts, it will often be found occupying a thick domed web, and on being 

 captured, it may be observed spinning a fine thread of gossamer. This 

 venomous spider may sometimes be found on the leaves of the pouaka, and 

 occasionally in the crevices of drift timber lying high and dry on the sea beach ; 

 but its favourite resort is under the tufts of pingao [Desmoschcenus S'pircdis), 

 which grows in abundance on the sand dunes near the coast. On moving 

 aside the long, overlapping leaves, the white web of the spider may be seen 

 attached to the roots of the plant, and within or around it two or more of the 

 venomous Katipo, the bright stripe on the back contrasting strongly with the 

 black of the other parts. 



The Rev. Mr. Chapman records a case in which the bite of this spider 

 proved fatal to a girl who was bitten in the region of the abdomen ; and he 

 m.entions another case, of an English lad who was bitten on the fleshy part of 

 the thigh, and " was three months before he rallied, and probably another three 

 before he fully recovered." (See Transactio')is, 1869, p. 82.) The natives on 

 the west coast have assured me that among them, children have frequently 



