The Monitor., 1890-04-25
TARANTULA AGAINST cENTlPEDE.H

some Interesting Battles Between Venom
Gus and Ferocious Creatures.
One afternoon last week there was
arge and interested crowd of amuse-
nant seekers in and in front of the large
side windows of Knox & Van Haren's
irug store. Several days before two
.entipedes, one large and the other
.mall, were brought into the store, and
also a tarantula They We're left in sep
arate receptaclcs. and all alive.
On this particular afternoon 1T was de-
termined to see how the animals would
act when placed together A layer OF
sand about an inch thick was spread
over the bottom of glass globe, and
first the two centipedes were dropped III
and with them a horned toad His
majesty with the horns took no part in
he trouble which disturbed the other
Two. He seemed to be acting simply as
the referee of the fight. The two cent?
pedes crawled over him and rolled over
MIN. but hardly awakened his sleepy
uature.
Not so the others They circled two or
three times around the globe and finally
came in each others way. Each desired
to crawl over the other, and the battle
began. 1t was short, but it was exciting.
No two pugilists ever went after each
other with more vim or more apparent
determination to do each other harm
than did these two centipedes. Their
catlike claws were repeatedly imbedded
in each others bodies, but the smaller
one could not stand the strain, and when
they came together for the third time,
about two minutes after they were first
put in, they clinched and wound about
each other, keeping their claws going in
scissor fashion upon each others bodies
until the smaller eentipede dropped out,
dead.
The body was taken out of the globe,
and soon after the tarantula was dropped
in. The centipede had not had time to
recover any strength after his battle with
his fellow, and his sting had lost its death
dealing qualities, SO that this battle was
also short The two animals closed only
twice when the forceps of the tarantula
crushed through the head of the larger
centipede, and he died quickly. The ta-
rantula had apparently received no in
Jury, and he looked mad enough to have
fought whole regiment of centipedes.
One of the company who had watched
the two battles, impressed with the way
the centipede fought in the first battle,
ventured the assertion that the centipede
was the better fighter. He knew where
one could be obtained and he went after
L. fl,a x,atta1 Whav,
he returned he brought q centipede near
" four and half inches long. 1t was
Immediately dropped into the globe,
and the fight, which was then begun,
lasted for fully three-quarters of an hour,
and was exceedingly savage while it
lasted The tarantula did most of the
fighting, but after the first attack invari-
ably got the worst of the round.
The tarantula fights with pair of
pinchers, which are thrust out just be-
low or from the lower part of the head.
These are very hard, and strong enough
to leave marks upon lead pencil. The
centipede fights with the double line of
cat like claws which are ranged in rows
along the side of the body. In fighting
the tarantula spreads himself out, and,
after backing away after the manner of
a crawfish until he can get no further,
springs upon the enemy, thrusting out
the pinchers and grasping whatever por-
ton of the body of the enemy comes
within reach.
In the battle in the globe the two came
together for dozen or more rounds,
breaking away and returning to the OPP
posite side of the globe at the close of
each. Finally the two came together
and the centipede seemed to get the hold
he had been looking for, and the taran-
tula's body was quickly wrapped up in
the fold of the armed body of its oppo-
nent. Meanwhile the hundred claws of
the centipede were working rapidly and
with such effect that the life of the ia
rantula was soon over. The victorious
centipede did not come out unscathed,
as the forceps of the tarantula had
pierced his body in five places, from
which the black life fluid was running
He survived the battle only few hours.
San Diego Union.