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Show 1902.] SPIDERS OF THE GENUS LATRODECTUS. 249 The late^ Dr. Marx, too, tried many experiments on various animals by injecting the contents of the poison-sac of these spiders, but without any prejudicial results. Numberless instances, however, have been quoted by authors of cases in which human beings, supposed to have been bitten by members of this genus, have manifested very serious symptoms. And this is especially the case in connection with the Katipo, the N e w Zealand variety. Mr. Urquhart says that his friend Mr. Robson stated that a man engaged in erecting a lighthouse was bitten on the neck, and went quite mad for some time. Mr. Wright, in 1869, gave many cases : an English boy was bitten as he sat amongst the grass inhabited by a Katipo; in another case the spider crawled up a boy's trousers and gave him a most dangerous wound. Carl Lumholtz, in his book ' Amongst Cannibals,' says that Latrodectus hasseltii, the Australian form, is very common and very dangerous to m a n ; a friend of his, bitten in the leg, was seized with paralysis for three days. On the third clay he had a cold perpsiration, and recovered. There are said to be two kinds of Katipo-one black without spots, the other black with red spots; and the latter is regarded as far the most poisonous. One might quote instances of these distressing symptoms from all parts of the globe-North America, Chili, Central America, Australia, Madagascar, N e w Zealand, and the Mediterranean; and I must refer readers to the cases mentioned in the ' Bulletin' of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, for Jan. 1889 and onwards (see the list of Literature), for some startling cases of blood-poisoning, possibly caused by spider-bites, though there is no evidence that the bites were inflicted by Latrodectus. But for well-authenticated cases of men, women, children, and animals manifesting the symptoms of blood-poisoning, cases which have been watched for days by medical men who may be presumed to have been competent observers, we must refer to the encyclopaedic work of Dr. Puga Borne, published in 1891, -2,-3. Here we have stated the age, sex, condition and temperament of the sufferers, the time of the year, and the condition of the weather at the time the patient was bitten. Then we have minute diagnoses of the symptoms, followed by a careful consideration of the various remedies and their effect. But both in the works referred to before and in the present case, there is always a noteworthy and important omission. No mention is made as to what evidence there was that the bite was actually inflicted by the spiders accused. Dr. Puga Borne states that a sheep was bitten by five of these spiders, but he does not say how they were encouraged to bite, how they were held, or what part of the sheep was bitten. One cannot believe that so many cases could be quoted by a medical man without he had actually witnessed the act of biting, but it is an extraordinary thing that he should not have thought it worth while to tell us how the experiments were carried out and how so venomous a PROC. ZOOL. Soc-1902, VOL. I. No. XVII. 17 |