The Sumter banner. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1846-1855, 1852-11-30
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The Texas TarantG
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TlAs Texas of ours is an asst ofiiy
,Iingly prolific conntry Every field
i stands lpSuriant, crowded Sc! that it
can scarce wave under the breeze,
with cqTn or stigaror wheat or cot.
ton. Every cabin is full and over:
flowing, through ell its doors and
|:winslows with Whiteihairea children.
Every prairie abonnds in dc cr,S inrai-
rie,hcns and cattle. Every .SSyer
and $creekis alive With fish. The
whole land is electric with lizards
perpetnally dartins about among tho
grass like flashes Of green lightning.
We lave too much prairie and too
little forest for great multitude Or
variety Of birds. But horned frogs,
SCORPIONS tarantnlas and centipedes,
wc beat the Universe. Everybody
has seen horned frogs. You sec see
them in Jars nthc windows Of apoth-
ecaries. You are entrcatea to ,ur-
chase them by loafng boys on the
Elesees at New Orleans. They have
been neatly soldered up in soda box.
es, and mailed BY young gentlemen
N Texas, to fair oncs in the old
SS..stcs. ss ST.
The fair ones receive The neat
package from tic pest Office, ,3are de.
Isllsshsed atsthe prospect Of a dagncr-
rsotylee perhaps jewelry-open the
llrackage eagerly and faint, as tho
frog within hops out, in excellent
health, ufon them. A horned frog
lls, simply, a Very harmless frog, with
very portentous horns. 1t has horns
because everything in its re gion--
trees, shrubs. grass even, has tlofns
and nature: makes it in keeping
with, all around Sit. A menagerieI
of them would not be expensive
They are content tolivc upon air.,
and can, ifdesired live, am told.
Tor several rpesit Ssasik even that.
is5sS v n ls,
those 0t x s tss1
lobster, exactly, only,5not more tl,all
some three. inches long. You are.
verysapt to put one upon your face.
in the towel which you apply thereto
after washing. If you do, XR will
find the sting about equal Dat Of
the wasp-no nothing worses8 They,
| are fur lessspoisonous than theS scor-i
piorl of,he East --in fact, none ex.,
cept new comers dread them at ALL
But the tarantula. You remem..
Der the astonishing elasticity with
which you sprang in the air that
time you we're jnst on the point of
putting your raised foot down upon
a snake coilel in your path. Yous
were frigli;ened--through every f.
bre of your body. Very probably
tho snake was as harmless as it was
beautiful. Spring as high, be as ut
tcrly frightened as possible, when
you just avoid stepping npon a taran-
tula, however. Filthy, loathsome,
abomihable and poisonous-crush it
to atoms before you leave i'll! Ifyou
have n Yer seen it-know henceforth
that it is. an enormous spider---con.
centrating initself all tile venom and
spite and ngliness of all other spiders
living. It's body is some two inches
long, black and bloatcd. It enjoys
the possession of eight legs, a red
mouth, and an abundance of stiff
| brown hair all over itself. When
standing, it covers an area Of a sau.
Ger. Attackit with a stick, and it
rears on its hind legs, gnashcs at the
stick, and fights like a tiend. 1t ey-
en- jumps forward a foot ortwo in its
ragc--and, ifit bite into a vein, The
bite is death! l have been told OF
the battle fought by one on board a
steamboat. Discovered at the lower
end of tile saloon, it canel,opping up
the saloon; driving the whole body
Of passengers before it, it almost
drove the Whole company, crew and
all, over board.
The first | saw was at the house
of a friend, ] spied it crawling SLOW
/ ly over the wall, meditating lnurde,
upon the children playing in the
room. Excessively pradent in re
gard to my fingers, at last, howev
or, had it safely imprisoned in q
/ glass Jar, unlutt. There was a flaw
in the glass as we'll as a hole through
the cork, by ghich it could breathe
but III ten minutes it was dead fron
rage! Soon after I killed three up
on my place, crawling about grount
tr6dden every day BY The bare fee
I of my little boy. A month after
killed whole nest Of them. The,
had formed their family circle un
der a doorstep, upon whichthe afore
said little fellow played daily. da,
! he seen one Of them he would, 3
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