The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1889-06-26
THE TARANTULA KILLERS.
GIANT MEXICAN wAsPs WHOM
THE DEADLY SPIDER FEARS.
The Spider Is ParaIyzed by the wasp's
Sting-The Body Serves as store
house for Young Wasps.

the Mexican wasp: "You1l find that re-
markable insect wherever there are
tarantulas, for |, seems to owe the per-
petuation of its kind to the presence of
That king OF spiders. In fact, it is known
by the name of 'tarantula killer in Texas
and other parts where the big spider has
its habitat.
The most pugnacious birds Of the air
give the tarantula wide berth, and the
hercest beasts are content to leave him
unmolested. In fact, the tarantula seems
30 defy the entire animal kingdom, with
the exception of this giant wasp. The
appearance of a hawk sailing over a
barnyard will not cause a more sudden
or frantic scattering Of a brood OF
chickens to place of safety than will the
approach of a tarantula killer among a
colony of these spiders. Whether the
tarantulas can see their enemy a long way
OIL, or whether they hear the hum of its
wings, or smell the dreaded insect. I
don't know, but whenever tarantula is
seen scampering like mad for his den and
closing down its trap door without delay.
it is ten to one that tarantula killer will
bs seen sailing along that way a few
seconds later.
ut flies up leisurely, It's reddish-brown
wings spread to their full three-inch
sweep, and contrasting strikingly with its
dead-black legs and body. The hiding
OF the tarantula In his den does not worry
the wasp bit. 1t lights at the trap door
and has 1t open as quickly as the taran-
tula can open it himself, and walks
straightway in. The big hairy, deadly
spider has no terrors for the wasp. The
quality of the wasp's sting is shown in
startling way by its effect on the taran-
tula, for in five seconds after the killer
has entered the spiders den the tarantula
has succumbed to the thrusts of the sting
and is dragged out by the the wasp as a
butcher would drag a dead pig out of
the pen.
'But the strange part of the quick
Knocking out of the spider by the wasp
is that while the former will never enjoy
the pleasures of life again, he is not dead.
The poison the wasp injects into the
tarantula does not kill him, but throws
him into trance from which he will
never awaken. The tarantula is actually
embalmed alive, and if the subsequent
processes the wasp has in store for him
prove abortive in their working, as they
sometimes do, the tarancula will remain
in that dead and alive condition ever af
terward.
" Sometimes it happens to suit the
tarantula killer, when it does up its spider
In the latter's den, to leave him there to
carry out the rest of the programme, and
usuallyit drags the tarantula to some other
part of the country, frequently mile dis
tant, although the spider Is many times
the wasp's bulk and weight. When the
big wasp has dragged the spider to the
spot it has selected, it punctures its vic
tins body at the base of one of its hind
legs, and lays an egg deep in the open
ing. The wasp then digs hole in the
ground and buries the tarantula. Some
times it hides the spider in cleft in the
rocks, and plasters the opening thick
with mud. When the egg is Matched in
side the spider the result is most vora-
cious grub, which at once begins to eat
its way out of its storehouse. 1t is as If
the spider had been kept on ice, nice and
fresh in allits flesh and juices. The wasp's
greedy larva devours everything to the
right and left of it, and all that is ahead
Of 1t, and when it emerges from the
head there is nothing left of
-he spider but its hideous hairy shell.
The grub digs itself out of the spiders |
grave, and in time becomes itself a
killer, and does the same act for
future supply of wasps that was done
'or it.
"Once in great while the wasp's egg
will not hatch, but that doesn't change
he condition of the tarantula. saw
in Texas that was found in a
mud plastered rock five years ago. A
wasp had deposited its egg in the spiders
'ody, but it had been abortive. tits not
,nown how long the tarantula had lain
n its trance when it was discovered, but
When l saw it'there were no more signs of
lecay about it than there are about a
leeplng dog or cat. II was full and
lump, its legs timber and flexible, and
IS eyes bright. All the elements of life
'ere present, apparently, and yet the
PiNNA "oS plAOtINdlly uo NCdu dS int !
royerbial door nail.
Gas far as / could learn and observe in
outhern Texas, the wasp's temper is good,
nd it never shows any inclination to re-
ent the presence,of man except when it
as an embalmed tarantula in tow. Then
will show its displeasure if it is ap-
reached too closely, and will make
'antic dashes at any intruder, opening its
ID wings as It exhibits the signs of its
lger, as if as a warning. l was told of
Mexican who was stung by one of these
asps on an occasion of that kind. lie
as stung in the neck. Paralysis Of one
de ensued and the victim finally died.
'These tarantula killers live ON elder
)wers, the bloom of the wild Virginia
eeper, and similar flowers. counted
10 Of the tremendous insects ON one
ump of elder flowers one day, and Won
ay always be sure of seeing them in any I
the Southwestern regions where elder \
Virginia creeper abound. The tarap- {
la killer is a good two inches and a half
ng, and he is as handsome as he is ter
bic. :
The Joneses are at the head of the