OCR Text |
Show European Tarantula. An eminent authority in such matters, mat-ters, in remarking that the tarantula is a spider, says of that terrifying creature that it is the Lycosa Tarantula, Taran-tula, a species of spider found in some of the warmer parts of Italy and Spain. When full grown tt is about the -size of a chestnut and of a brown color. Its bite was at one time supposed sup-posed to be dangerous and to induce a kind -of "dancing disease." but now it is known not to he worse than the sting of a common wasp. It is an old fable, extending to remotest re-motest times, that the bite of this spider spi-der would produce epilepsy or a strange dancing mania in its victims and that this epilepsy or madness could be relieved only by a particular kind of music. The tarantula of Italy and Spain and it is found in those countries today has hairy legs with black markings on them. |