The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1886-08-11
THE PESTS OF MEXICO.
Poisonous Creatures That Make Life
There Dangerous.


There Dangerous.
A very shocking creature is the tarantula
soft, fat and covered with long black
hair. They grow to surprising size in the
South of Mexico, and the desert sand is full
of their box-like houses. It Is said that the
horse which treads upon tarantula will
instantly lose its hoof, statement which
must be taken with many grains of allow
ance, for, if literally true, half the beasts in
in Mexico would be hooHess. The Casdnsa
putgG spiders are similar to tarantulas, often
larger than the palm of your hand, their
broad, fuzzy backs shading from bronze to
yellow. As for centipedes, they average
about quarter of foot in length, but
have seen some that would measure fully
nine inches. A resident of Mexico may
find one any day wandering about his room,
hidden away in his dinner napkin, dragging
itself over the china on the pantry shelf or
"inching along" over the plaza bench upon
which you chance to DO seated, with the
evident intention of dropping down the
back of you neck or going on an investi-
eating tour up your stockings. They not
only have pair of horny jaws, like those
of insects but also another set of organs
closely connected with tho mouth, which
are regarded as transformed legs, dilated
and united at the base, terminated by q
strong hook and pierced beneath the ex,
tremity for the emission of q venomous
fluid. It is this peculiar construction OF
the centipede which has given rise to the
not untrue assertion that it bites with its
legs" Should you discover ono crawling
over any portion of your anatomy you
must have nerve enough to remain perfect
ly quiet, without 10 much as the quivering
Of a muscle, until it crawls off at its leisure
which may BIO hours later, for it is not on
expeditions creature. At the slightest
alarm or disturbance it will naturally cling
10 you for safety, and every particle OF
your flesh which the hooks upon its hun
dred legs have pierced with their poison
will slough off to the bone, and death may
ensue from slow blood poisoning. Jet
black centipedes are occasionally found;
others are composed Of alternate links of
brown and white, each link furnished with
its quota of red legs, the round head and
feelers being of the same bright color but
the most common ones are tho wickedest-.
those of pale green, with legs shading to
delicate yellow. Baron Humboldt asserts
that he often saw children of the Ohayma
Indians draw great green centipedos out OF
the ground and chew them-all but the
poisonous legs-with evident relish
There are many other interesting crea-
lures for whose venom no remedy is known.
There is small viper, striped with beauti-
full colors like Roman ribbon, the coral
lilo, viper of coral hue, with coal-black
head, and milk-white yipers whose bite is
certain and horrible death. Yet every vari-
sty of these loathsome creatures Ia roasted
and eaten by the Indians as remedy for
skin diseases. 1t is q strange fact, made
known to the world by DIR. Weir Mitchell
in 1868, that "no poisonous snake can
poison itself" Yet there is the eslaboneillo,
shaped like lizard, which throws itself
upon you, and il prevented from biting
anything else, will chew its own back until
1t dies. There is the vinagrillo, an animal
like beetle, which you may discover by
the strong odor of vinegar which it emits
1t is dressed in brilliant orange color, and
gently taps upon the persons whom it walks
over, without giving any pain, but leaving
behind train of deadly poison. How often
has my wife awakened me in the wee sma'
hours declaring she smelled vinegar all
about us-and such is the power of imagi-
nation that soon both of us would have
sworn to it, though no vinagrillo was to be
found Then there is the lizard shaped
Balamanquera whose bite 10 certain death I;
gorgeous lizards dressed in scarlet; brown
spiders sporting polka dots of crimson and
gold spider like a mammoth glowworm,
which carries its lantern on its back the
beautiful black and red chinclaquftS, whose
sting sends racking pains through all your
bones and the only cure Is to shut yourself
up for several days in close room thick
with smoke; the rata, bright Dyed little
snake, whose seal-brown back is crossed
with crescent bands Of white, while the
belly is beautifully red, and q hundred
other varieties whose names do not know.
Fortunately, most of them give warning OF
of their presence either by the odor they
exhnle, tho light they emit, or, like the
rattlesnako, by sounding warning noto.-
Philadelphia Record.
sire yn some English Houses.
Adam Badeau writes as follows to the Sun
~ &; IA lba hnV ff Oh,
lristocmcy,
In some houses tho ladies join the men In
Turkish trousers and embroidered jackets,
with ralish caps and tassels, and sit in the
Imoking room till and o'clock in the
morning. Some of them, matrons and
damsels, too, take their cigarettes ond oven
their brandy and soda and the tone o.
manners under these circumstances Is not
apt to be as formal as OF the dinner table.
Stories are told Of princesses and duchesses
playing hide and seek afterward and find
ing their way in still ligher attire into
corners where footmen have stumbled on
them unawares; and practical jokes in
baths and bedrooms are practised, filter for
pothouses than for palaces.
These revels, however, are not universal
About one-third of the English aristocracy
indulge in fashions that rival the most dis.
solute orgies of any time their morals are
like their descent, inherited direct from
Charles H.; but there is fully another third
as pure and correct as any circle in any
country In the world. The remaining third
are,like the mass of mankind everywhere,
good or bad, according to temptation and
opportunity.
once stayed at Highland house where
the party was very young and very gay ;
and after dinner it was agreed to play at
deer stalking in the drawing room. Some
of the nobility were to be shooters, one wal
the stag, and two others were the dogs. Still
Al nj S,ill fka