LATRODECTUS, THE POISONOUS 



(Latrodectus mactans) 



Of all the spiders feared by man to-day few 

 have the black reputation of those belonging 

 to the genus Latrodectus. The much-feared 

 malmignatte of southern Europe, the dreaded 

 karakurte of southeastern Russia, the kapito 

 of New Zealand, the vancoho of Madagascar, 

 and our own American black widow are all 

 spiders of this genus. The American Latrodec- 

 tus is quite generally known on sight by the 

 Southwestern Indians, especially the older ones; 

 for it was long the practice among these peo- 

 ple to use these spiders, crushed, for poisoning 

 their arrow-points; but I am convinced that 

 not nine out of ten of the white people who 

 need to fear this noxious spider would know 

 her if they saw her, and this in spite of the fact 

 that she is one of our commonest Southwestern 

 spiders. 



Latrodectus is one of our few spiders with a 

 purely black body. So black is it that often it 



