347 

 GENERAL NOTES. 



THE SPIDER-BITE QUESTION. 



The following item appeared in the Evening Star (Washington) for 

 March 12, 1889, and is a fair sample of the newspaper reports in refer- 

 ence to spider-bites \vhich are so common : 



BITTEN BY A BLACK SPIDER. 



Mr. Tileston F. Chambers, son of Mr. D. A. Chambers, of this city, came home 

 from Priucetou with several fellow-students to spend the inauguration holidays. On 

 Saturday, March 2, he was bitten twice on the arm by what the doctor said must 

 hare been a black spider, with the most alarming results. Blood-poisoning and 

 jaundice followed, but by careful treatment he is now rapidly recovering. The phy- 

 sician said that another hire would undoubtedly have proved fatal. 



Learning by correspondence from Mr. D. A. Chambers that the phy- 

 sician in charge was Dr. Z. T. Sowers, of Washington, a well-known 

 and prominent practitioner, we called npon Dr. Sowers, who informed 

 us that he knew little more than was given in the newspaper state- 

 ment. He said that he had had several such cases in his practice and 

 that he was accustomed to attribute these bites to black spiders, for 

 the reason that he knew of no other insect found in such localities 

 which could produce the effect. The room in which young Mr. Cham- 

 bers was bitten v\^as one which had long been disused, and he occupied 

 it on the night of March 2, for the reason that the rest of the house 

 was full of inauguration visitors. Thus there is nothing special con- 

 nected with this instance. 



Professor Riley is under the impression that certain of these cases re- 

 sult from the bite of the Blood-sucking Cone-nose {Conorrliinus san- 

 guisuga), an insect which is occasionally found in houses, and which is 

 able to inflict a very severe wound with its beak. 



Evidence in regard to fatal bites is very weak, with the exception of 

 the genus Latrodectus, and tliis genus is never found in outhouses or 

 disused rooms. Dr. Elliott Uoues calls our attention to the fact that if 

 the Latrodectus stories are true we have a case in this creature of the 

 most powerful poison known. With the most poisonous snakes an ap- 

 preciable quantity of poison, say one or two drops, is injected into the 

 wound, but with the Latrodectus an infinitely smaller quantity seems to 

 produce as strong an effect. 



In this connection we may quote an item which falls under our notice 

 in the April number of Psi/che, and for the reliabilit}^ of which the Sci- 

 entific American (November 17, 188S, vol. LIX, p. 310) is responsible : 



SPIDER POISONS. 



Professor Breeger has recently investigated the poisons of spiders. He found that 

 the Russian varieties of spider, Phalanchiuin and Troc/tosa (tarantula), are non-poison- 

 ous, but that a third. C.i)-acnrt,oY " black wolf," secretes a powerful poison, forming 



