36 
Psyche 
[March 
SPIDER BITE BY OLIGOCTENUS (Fam. CTENID^]) 
By L. F. Pinkus, 
High School, St. Louis, Missouri 
During June, 1929, a student brought into the laboratory 
a spider which has been identified by Prof. A. Petrunke- 
vitch as a new species of Oligoctenus of the family 
Ctenidse. According to Comstock the members of this fam- 
ily wander about in search of their prey and are active 
mainly at night. Some of the tropical species are very 
large. They make no webs for a dwelling, but some species 
appear to inhabit burrows in the ground. 
My specimen was taken from a bunch of bananas, so its 
real origin could not be determined. It was placed in a 
rather large insectarium, of which the bottom was filled 
with earth. The spider was very inactive most of the time 
and hid in the corners of the container. 
After about two weeks it was brought home because of 
the close of school. A visitor, noticing the cage, inquired 
what mightj be seen there and in order to show off my 
trophy I opened the cage and pushed the spider with the 
index finger of my left hand, in order to induce him to move 
about. Instantly I was bitten. 
Here are my notes concerning the effects of this bite : 
June 12, 1929: — 4.30 P. M. — Bitten by spider (Oligocten- 
us) on index finger of left hand. Index finger swelled. The 
instant piercing pain was quite severe. After approxi- 
mately ten minutes the swelling had covered the whole fin- 
ger. The finger was numb, but painful with a prickly 
crampy sensation, interrupted by throbbing, jerky pains. A 
little dizziness accompanied this, and after fifteen minutes, 
for just a few seconds, became quite severe, and perspira- 
tion collected on my forehead. My lips became blue for a 
short while and the pain continued intense for about an 
hour. After two hours the swelling extended over a larger 
area of the hand, covering the index finger and the greater 
part of the back of the hand and reaching all the way over to 
the metacarpals of the third finger ; in other words, leaving 
free only the metacarpal and phalangeal region of thumb 
