LYCOSID^: 67 



CASE Another species of Latrodectes, from the south of Russia, having 

 similar properties, has been described by Motschulsky, and he has 

 given it the name of Latrodectes lugubris. The same noxious 

 properties are found in a species of the same genus, called the 

 Kalipo, that inhabits New Zealand. An account of the effects 

 of its bite, and of the remedies used against it, will be found in the 

 Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, 1869. 



Theridion benignum {Walck.). 



Another species of Theridion (called benignum from its being 

 so unusually benignant in disposition that husband and wife are 

 actually able to live together without eating each other up) is 

 interesting to man from an economic point of view. In the south 

 of Europe it is common in gardens, especially in autumn. Where 

 the grape vine is cultivated its webs are thought to be useful in 

 preserving the clusters of grapes from the attacks of other insects. 

 Its webs, though of slender texture, are very plentiful in some 

 places, so much so that almost every bunch of grapes has its 

 protecting network of web thrown over it. 



LYCOSID^ (Wolf Spiders). 



The wolf spiders are a family of rather large spiders that take 

 their prey not by lying in ambush but by regular chase. The 

 most celebrated of them is the Lycosa Tarantula, which was 

 supposed to give rise to the disease Tarantismus or Tarantula 

 dance. It was named after the town of Tarentum in Italy, where 

 it is common, and where no doubt it occasionally bites people. 

 So far as actual scientific observation has gone, the result of the 

 bite appears either to be nothing at all, or to be limited to some 

 uneasiness or swelling. Kirby and Spence mention that Dr. 

 Cavitro submitted to be bitten by this animal, and no bad effects 

 ensued, and that the Count Deborch, a Polish nobleman, bribed a 

 man to undergo the same experiment, in whom the only result was 

 a swelling of the hand, attended by intolerable itching. The 



£ 2 



