i86 DENIZENS OF THE DESERT 



small spider's bite, nor have the nervous symp- 

 toms been so marked. 



"Personally I prefer the bite of a rattler." 

 In some cases the bite of Latrodectus is fol- 

 lowed by extreme tightening of the abdominal 

 muscles, few of the nervous symptoms then 

 being present. All of the abdominal muscles, 

 especially the short muscles of the hips, become 

 exceedingly rigid and the pain accompanying 

 this tonic spasm is intense. The pain subsides 

 after about forty-eight hours and no after effects 

 are noticed. The poison never seems to affect 

 the heart. 



Though this spider is much feared by the 

 Indians, it is now known that, at least to some 

 extent, the venom was formerly used by them 

 as a cure for acute and chronic rheumatism and 

 a number of other ailments. A medicine man 

 at Cahuilla, Riverside County, California, who 

 used this remedy, prepared his patient for the 

 bite by a fast of two days and then allowed the 

 spider to bite the sufferer on the hand. The 

 patients who took this heroic treatment became 

 very sick, but were said to be free afterwards 

 from their old ailment. The case of a white 



