166 
Psyche 
[June-August 
The fifth and last egg-case was made on August 15. Just 
before the event, the opening of the hollow nest had been ex- 
tended upward for about an inch. This mother died on August 
25, ten days after completing her egg-case. 
A second spider was taken on August 9, and died on Sep- 
tember 20. Only fragmentary notes were made on this one. 
During this period she deposited four egg-cases, and all were 
found in a row in the corner of her cage among a tangled mass 
of threads that she made. While she had ample space, she 
made no elaborate or shapely nest as did the first. 
This species is regarded as highly venomous, as are other 
species of this genus, and instances of fatalities are recorded by 
Warburton (Cambridge Natural History), Comstock (Spider 
Book), and Riley and Johannsen (Handbook of Medical En- 
tomology). While the fact of its fatality to man is still in 
controversy, however, certain experiments carried on with 
mammals,^ such as cats, dogs and guinea-pigs, show con- 
clusively that this spider as well as others of the genus Latro- 
dectus possesses a poison which paralyzes the heart and central 
nervous system. 
’Handbook of Medical Entomology, p. 16. 1915. 
