KOXdL. SV. VET. AKADEMIENS IIAN1)LIN(; A U. 15ANI). 13. N:() 5. 



67 



Turkestania orientali (Knldscha) a Cel. Al. Fedtschenko captas, bonifj^ne ad loe misit Cel. 

 Al. CuoneberG; in his exciiiplis abdorncn ciun veiitre nigruiii iinuiaculatuin est, vuIvcb 



araneoides, tliere is anothcr similar (Ijv whicli word is evideiitly meant equallv daiif^erous) "perfectljj black 

 insect, liviiij»- in the eartli, witli an extcndcd web". Tliat this does not refer to a Trochosa, appoars to mc 

 probable, partly from the statcment relativa to the colour and the web of the animal, partly becaiise the bite of 

 "the Tarantula", Tr. Singoriensis, according to Pallas, whosc statcment rests upon his own experience, is 

 not venomous at all. I have not found the very nearly related and assuredly not more dangerous 7r. in- 

 fernalis mentioned either by Lepechin or Pallas. On Tr. Singoriensis and Tr. infernalis we shall say 

 more bercafter, wheu we come to consider the last-mcutioned of them. 



L. lugitbris is undoubtedly often confounded both with other spiders and with Galeodes araneoides, 

 tiie bite of which is probably far more dangerous tlian that of any spider. Nevcrtlieless this last-mentioncd 

 aninial can not well be the Kahuucks' Tschim, for Galeodes araneoides has among the Kalmucks its own 

 proper name, "]?ychoreho" or "Bö-Chorchoi" (Magie worm), according to Pallas, who as wcll loc. cit. (I, 

 p. 383; III, p. 650) as in his Naturgesch. merkwiird. Thicre (I, 9, p. 50 et seq.) produces examples of 

 men severely bitten by this auimal; according to the accoiints he received from the Kalmucks and Kirghese- 

 Cossaeks, large animals, such even as Camels, usually die if bitten by a Galeodes. Even to man its bite 

 is sonietimes fatal: thus Eichwald, in his Fauna Caspio-Cauc, p. 240, says: "Nescio quo jure ill. Pallas 

 (Reise, 1. c, I, 476) chelas veneniferas dicat; nam ore emittunt venenum Solpugce, homini ipsi pernieiosie; 

 sic ante nonnullos annos, quod mihi retulit vir hujus rei testis omni fide dignus, in casachica provincia 

 ad excubias Sologliih, Solpuga niomordit Casaccum regione iiiguinali, ita ut jam post tres dies diem obierit 

 supremum sub spasmodicis extremitatum contractionibus." 



Supposing it probable that theie niay be much exaggeration in the accounts we possess respecting 

 the venomousness of these arachnoidea and particulary of Lathrodectiis, it would assuredly be rash to de- 

 clare these aecouuts to be mere fables destitute of all foundation. Particularly as regards Lathrodectiis, it 

 is indeed a remarkable fact that most species of that genus, although they are not distinguished by un- 

 usual form, aud scarcely by any striking peculiavity of colour (Z. lugubris is almost uniformly black 

 or dark brown), aud though they have short mandibles with au uncommonly small claw, should have 

 acquired so bad a name almost everywhere, vvhere they are met with: they are considered as venomous in 

 so raany and so widely distant regions of the globe, that it is impossible to believe that the notion has 

 gone out from any single land or people, but must necessarily be allovved to have arisen under widely dif- 

 fereut local circumstauces and amougst peoples in greatly dififerent stadia of civilization. L. 13-guttattis 

 (Rossi) iu Italy and Oorsica, L. erebus Sav. et Aud. and L. argusi iv. in the Egypt and Canary Isles, L. perfidus 

 Walck., L. formidabilis ID., L. variolus id. aud L. verecundus (Hentz) in the United States of N. America, 

 L. mactans (Fabr.) in Martiuico, L. Curacaviensis (Mull.) in the island of Curapao etc, L. katipo Pow. 

 in New Zealand, L. menavodi Vixs. iu Madagascar — all these species and varieties are in bad reputation 

 for their bite's beiug venomous, if not always dangerous to life. (Z. ornatus Luc, by which Lucas says 

 that he has often beeu bitteu without any dangerous consequences, is not a Lathrodectus, but a Litky- 

 phantes.) Is there not then reason to pause before declaring upon purely negative grounds, — e. g. that 

 oue has often handled these spiders but never been bitten by them — that this so universally spread view 

 is altogether false and groundless? — Simon (Aran. nouv. ou peu connus du midi de FEurope, 2:6 Méra., p. 

 90 — 92) states that it is impossible for L. 13-guttatus "to bite through the human epidermis", of which 

 he considers himself certaiu although he has found that these animals "never attempt to bite"; both these 

 statements appear to me singular, for I caunot recoUect ever to have had a living spider in ray hand, that 

 has not tried to bite if I kept hold of it; and even if L. 13-gjtttatus should be unable to bite through 

 the epidermis at for example the finger-tips, it niight yet be able to do so at other parts of the body 

 where the skin is tender and thin. This animal moreover, according to Simon's statcment, lives upon "in- 

 sectes des plus gros et des plus robustes, tels que Percus et Carabus, dont les débris sont toujurs amon- 

 celés dans sa toile"; and how could it reduce such-like tough-skinned insects to débris, if its raaudibles had 

 not power enougli to penetrate the human epidermis? Simon indeed says: "cela s'explique par la force ex- 

 treme de ses fils et Tadresse qu'e]le déploie pour y enrouler ses victiraes"; but although this may explain 

 how the spider can capture large and strong insects, it does not appear to me to show how it can manage 

 to devour them, if they have a hard and solid shell and the spiders mandibles are as weak as Simon as- 

 serts them to be. — In order to decide the questiou of the venoraoussness or innoxiousness of the various 

 Z,rt</»'0(?et'i?<s-species, it will be necessary for some naturalist to have the opportunity, during the hottest 

 season of the year, of experimenting with at least L. 13-guttatus or some other of the species reputed ve- 

 nomous: they may perhaps not always and everywhere be as peaceful and as impossible to irritate as Simox 

 has found tliem in Corsica. 



