Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1882-03-16

The Iarantula.
The Texas tarantula when it is full
grown, is boss among spiders-wha
Jesse James is among robbers, Or Jay
Gould among railroad magnates. He
has hair all over his legs, and wears his
eyes on the top Of his head to see that
nobody takes advantage cf him. We
are not describing jay Gould, bat the
tarantnIa. He is big enough, and hungry
enough to gobble up all the rest, which
remark however. applies as we'll to Jay
as to the tarantula. The tarantula is o
desperate among insects. In nerespect,
nevertheless, he differs very much from
the Texas desperate. Tbelatter is more
dangerous when in liquor than at any
other time, while the tarantula is the
most harmless one on the road, as
long as he is under the influence OF aIco-
hol, and the bottle is corked up tightly.
The tarantnla makes himself respected
with pair of hooked fangs, which at
the same time are the principal cause
Of his unpopularity. AS long as this
aniaDle insect is not interfered with,
he attends strictly to his own business,
but if anybody punches him in the
small Of the back with an umbrella, or
spits tobacco juice on him, he becomes
irritable and peevish. Under such
provocation he will jump up and down,
sling his arms and legs about, gnash
his teeth, and 60 on for all the world
like q stump speaker whose veracity
has been questioned BY man in the
crowd. On such occasions he Will
jump on anybody, regardless Of his
size or social status.
Like all disagreeable people, the
tarantula has his personal enemies. The
enemy he likes less than all the rest, is
large black wasp, whose only mission
In life seems to take the conceit out of
the tarantula. He accomplishes this
remarkable feat by Vaccinating the
tarantula on the back with q sting.
When the tarantula goes out to bull
doze inofensive tumble-bugs and grass
hoppers, he has to look out for the
wasp. A fight between the wasp and
the tarantula is almost as interesting as
a Congressional debate on sectional
issues, and it always ends with the
death of the spider. As soon as the
tarantula hears the buzz of the wasp,
he looks for hole 10 crawl into, and
If there is none handy, it is goodbye
John" +" with Mr.. Spider. The wasp cir
cles around the excited spider, very
much as hawk does over a barn-yard.
Suddenly he dives down, vaccinates the
tarantula, and flies up again, It does
not seem as if he had touched the spi-
der, but he has, and it has taken too, for
in few seconds, the desperate of the
prairies begins to walk zig-zag, very
much like fashionable young man
returning from an oyster supper. In a
short time the tarantula feels tired, and
finally swoons away, whereupon the
wasp alights, takes good look at his
victim, and, seiziDg him BY one Of his
legs, dFags him off to some secluded
spot where he administers on his estate.
The would-be desperate can learn a
great deal if he will ponder over the
relations between the wasp and the
tarantula.
The bite of the tarantula is not as bad
as has been represented. It rarely
causes death, but it is very painful,
causing the bitten person to dance
about as impatiently as man who goes
to the postofice, finds his box full Of
letters, and then discovers that he has
left the key in his other pants. The
tarantula can be successfully tanned by
patting him on the small Of the back
with the fiat of an ax.-Terqs Siffings.