TAR 



Tiranis coiTcfponded to the Jupiter Tonans of the 

 Romans. See Thok. 



TARANNON, in Geography, a river of North Wales, 

 which runs into the Sevrn ; 4 miles W. of Newtown in 

 Montgomery ihire. 



TARANSA, one of the Weftern iflands of Scotland, 

 ahout four miles in length, and two in breadth, where 

 wideft, but in fome places fcarcely half a mile acrofs ; 5 miles 

 N.E. from Toe-Head. N. lat. 57° 52'. W. long. 6^ 59'. 



TARANTA, the name of mountains of Abyfilnia, tliat 

 Jje on the calt of the kingdom. 



TARANTARA, according to Ennius, the military 

 trumpet's flourifli of the Romans. 



TARANTELLA, a rapid tune played to perfons in 

 Calabria, fuppofed to be bitten by the tarantula, in order 

 to excite them to dance, which has been thought, while the 

 difeafe was believed, to be the only fpecific. 



TARANTISMUS, in Medimu, the difeafe or affedion 

 of thofe hit by the tarantula. 



The patients und^r this malady are denominated ta- 

 rantati. 



Dr. Cornelio, in the Philofophical Tranfaftions, repre- 

 fcnts this as an imaginary difeafe ; and tells us, that the 

 tarantati, or thofe that think themfelves feized with it, 

 (excepting fuch as for particular ends feign themfelves fo,) 

 are moft of them young wanton girls, fuch as the Italian 

 writers call Donne difaJe, who, falling from fome particular 

 iudifpofition, into melancholy maduefs, perfuade themfelves, 

 according to vulgar prejudice, that they have been bitten by 

 t. tarantula. 



But the evidence, on the other fide of the queftion, has 



fained confiderable credit, as will appear from the article 

 "arantula. 



TARANTOLA, in Geography, a town" of Naples, in 

 Abruzzo Citra ; 10 miles E.N.E. of Sulmona. 



TARANTULA, or Tarentula, in Natural Hiflory, 

 s Teiiomous infcft, whofe bite gives_name to a new difeafe, 

 called tarantifmus. 



Tlie tarantula is a kind of fpider, the aranea tarantula of 

 Linna»us, fo denominated from the city of Tarentum, in 

 Apulia, near which it is chiefly found. It is alfo called 

 phalangtum ApuUum. Valetta, a monk of Apulia, who 

 had always refided about the places where this mifchievous 

 animal is moft frequent, and had many opportunities of 

 tracing its feveral qualities, publiflied a fuccinft, but very 

 accurate hiftory of it in the year 1706, under this name. 



It has its name phalangium, from the three phalanges or 

 joints of its legs, and this name equally fuiting many other 

 fpiders, as well as this, it ceafed to be its appropriated name, 

 and was applied as a generical term to feveral other fpiders 

 of the larger kind, among which this fpecies was always dif- 

 tinguifhcd by the epithet ApiiVtan, from the place where it 

 was fo frequently found. 



Tlie tarantula, or Apulian phalangium, is frequent in all 

 parts of this country, in uncultivated places, but more 

 efpccially it breeds moil in funny dry hills, and particularly 

 in fuch parts of them as are cxpofed to the fouth. 



It is faid not to be found any where except in Apulia, 

 But probably it is an inhabitant of many other places, 

 though its poifon may not be violent enough any where 

 elfe to bring on the efFefts it does there : as we find in 

 vipers and many other poifonous creatures, that the ftrength 

 of tlieir poifon differs greatly in degree in different places. 



M. GeofFroy fays, that it is the opinion of fome that the 

 tarantula is never venomous but in the coupling feafon ; 

 ini Baglivi fays, that it is never fo but in the heat of 



T A II 



fummer ; particularly in the dog-days, when, becoming en- 

 raged, it flies on all that pafs by. 



As this fpider is very tender, and eafily injured by cold 

 wuids and rain, it always digs itfclf a cave in the fide of 

 a hill for its liabitation ; and ufually chufcs for this pur- 

 pofe the hardcft ground it can find, which is better able 

 to defend it, and which it eafily woi-ks into, with its forcept 

 and claws. This always is hollowed upward in the liill, and 

 by that means is fafe from wet, all the water in rainy feafoas 

 running down over its top. Sometimes it burrows itfelf a 

 cave in a valley or plain, but then it always chufes a dry, 

 ufually a chalky foil. In this cafe, the entrance into it» 

 cave is fmali, and within, there are feveral winding pafiages : 

 if it happens to be furprifcd with wet in this place, from 

 hard rains, it quits the floor and hangs by its feet againft 

 the top of the cave. It preys upon a number of fmall 

 infefts, with which the fields of Apuha abound, and feldom 

 appears in the day-time, but creeps out about the time of 

 fun-fct, and preys at large upon the animals which arc the» 

 betaking themfelves to reft ; without the danger it would be 

 expofed to from its own enemies by day-light. If at any- 

 time he remains the whole evening in his cave or den, it i» 

 only to praftife another method of hunting his prey. la 

 this cafe, he comes forward to the mouth of the hole, and 

 there lies in wait ; his fore-legs are placed at the extremity 

 of the hole, and his eyes have a clear view all round. The 

 other infefts are not aware of this trick, but as they walk 

 near his hole he burfts out upon them, and feizing them, he 

 conveys them into his habitation ; where, as foon as he ha« 

 eaten them, he retires back into his cell to difpofe of the 

 wings and other fragments, till he can carry them out at a 

 more convenient time, and then places himfelf in his former 

 pofture for another prey. 



The peafants of Apulia have a method of getting him out 

 of his hole in the day-time, in order to deftroy him. This 

 they do by making a foft liiffing noife through an oat 

 ftraw : whether it be that the creature loves this found, or 

 rather that he takes it for the voice of fome infcft that he it 

 ufed to prey upon, he always comes out, and falls a facrifice 

 to his greedinefs. 



The creature has eight legs, and waUcs very well ; hit 

 legs have each three joints, and are covered with a fine 

 downy hairinefs ; they are of a whitifh colour at the bottom, 

 and variegated with black lines, and are wholly black in their 

 upper part, where they are joined to the breaft : thefe all 

 arife from a kind of oval fhield, which is placed upon the 

 breaft, and is black, hairy, and very hard : this is caUed hy 

 fome the Jpcciilum of the tarantula. From the fhoulders there 

 grow a pair of horns, at leaft they are ufually called fo, 

 though they fcem much better to deferve the name of arms; 

 the ufe of thefe is to hold faft the prey, that it may not be 

 able to efcape while he is kilhng it witii his forceps : thefe 

 horns or arms have the fame number of joints that the legs 

 have, but they greatly differ from the legs, in that they are 

 fhorter, and of a yeliowilh colour ; they are alfo covered 

 witii a longer and tliicker hair, for the more certainly hold- 

 ing the prey, and are terminated by black claws, and they 

 are much fmallcr and more capable of motion every way. ' 

 The belly is either white, or of a pale yellow, and is marked 

 with a tranfverfe black ftreak : tills is furrounded with feve- 

 ral other fmall fpots of the fame colour, and is clothed with 

 a very fine and fhort down ; the whole body befidc is covered 

 with longer hairs, and is of a whitifli or brownifli colour ; 

 the apex of the head, the fliield of the breaft, and the ends 

 of the forceps, are as hard a.s a crab's claws ; but the reft 

 of the bodv is covered with a tender fupple flcin : the eye» are 

 O 2 rery 



