14 TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REMINISCENCES. 



order to note its venomous char- 

 acter, and the way in which it 

 inoculates its victims, Dr. Lange 

 put a large gutter-rat in a secure 

 glass box with the tarantula, 

 ^vhich inoculated the rat several 

 times, and it died in about five 



and the venom serves at the 

 same time to preserve the victims, 

 insects, birds, mice, etc., as food 

 supply to them or their offspring. 

 Such is also known to be the case 

 in the tarantula-killing wasp (first 

 view, second row) which, however , 



Texas Female Tarantula— (Natural Size). ■ 



hours. This shows that the ve- 

 nom of this Spider is a slow acting 

 poison, gradually paralyzing the 

 motor centers, with pralysis of 

 the extremities and respiratory 

 centers, according to the amount 

 of venom inoculated. Usually 

 these, and other poisonous animals 

 inoculate their victim only once, 



is not the regular tarantula-killer, 

 which is of more slender structure, 

 but powerfully built and which 

 inoculates its victims with its 

 sharp daggers, situated at the 

 abdomen, and which communicates 

 with the poison bladder of. the 

 wasp's abdomen. (Abdominal 

 parts of this wasp species depicted 



