Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1892-09-22
WHAT THE BANANAS BRING
Scorpions, Spiders, Snakes
and TarantulaS.
AWORK ATTENDED WITH DANGER
Where 1t is Necessary to Keep
a Sharp Lookout.
Mon Engaged In Unloading Banana Ships
Have tn Constantly Guard Against
Poisonous stings--Tho yenemous Crea-
lures Found In Buncbes of Bananas.
New York Herald.

Workmen for wholesale banana
| dealers never begin work that they do
not take their lives in their hands.
Scarcely wagon load of the fruit is
taken from ship that some sort of
deadly poisonous reptile, spider or in.
sect is not hidden away beneath the
layers.
The animal life which takes free pas.
sage from foreign countries by storing
itself away in punches of bananas
would furnish food for an interesting
volume on natural history.
So accustomed have the handlers OF
this fruit become to seeing big, hairy
tarantulas crawl ont of the punches
and up the legs of their trousers that
| they whisk them to the floor and step
upon them with no more concern than
II they were harmless Croton bugs or
caterpillar5 instead of the yenomous
| insects that they are. The bite of
south American tarantula is in all cases
| poisonous and in many instances deadly,
| yet their presence among banana hand
lers creates no mole terror than if they
were the most harmless of spiders.
They are more frequently found in
bananas than any other reptiles and they
| come from every place from which
bananas are shipped. They are black and
fuzzy, with long, hairy legs and little
beadlike eyes, which twinkle and snap
like electric sparks, and their very APP
pearance would strike terror to the
hearts of those who are not accustomed
TO seeing them, As q rule the bodies of
these big spiders are about tho size OF
the end OF mans thumb, but sometimes
"Gulliver" crawls out into daylight,
and he is Immediately captured and
Gagged, and the captor easily sells him
fol- from 81 TO SO.
Those of the tarantulas which are not
aroused by the jolting of the lunches IN
handling and keep in hiding are slowed
| away in the hot cellars of the dealers,
where they become warmed up and
then crawl out and spend the remainder
OF their days in the cracks Of the ripen-
ing rooms, with the domestic rats and
other small animals with which these
cellars abound.
SNAKES OFTEN FOUND.
Snakes are not infrequently found
coiled around the stalk of bunch of
bananas, and they are seldom killed.
AS o rule the variety is peculiar, and q
ready market is always found where
ShSJ Soh NC AlSIO5GN VI dL u TCiSOHdDlt
| price.
They rarely escape after the bananas
| have been lifted from the hold OF yes.
sci. If the snake becomes curious when
| the air and light strike him and sticks
| his head out for a survey of the sur
| roundings he is Immediately bounced
upon and imprisoned. If he remains to
| be slowed away in the ripening room
the heat invariably wakes him up and
he uncoils himself and crawls ont.
Among the most feared of the reptiles
is black snake with brown tnge
near its under part. 1t usually measures
about is inches in length. Its head is
rather tlatter than is usual with snakes,
and just back of its head for about two
inches it is marked with small yellow
stripes which look something like gold
collar.
The workmen say that its bite is
invariably fatal, statement which is
somewhat robbed of its terrors by the
fact that diligent search failed to dis
cover anybody who would assume the
responsibility of making an affidavit
that he ever knew anybody who died in
this way. These snakes arc generally
| found in the consignment of bananas
from Baracoa, although occasionally
they are discovered in shipments from
Jamaica and Costa Rica.
The most frequent visitor TO our
shores in the snake kingdom on banana
vessels is what the wQrkmeM call lia.
mond snakes There is nothing i'll their
appearance TO indicate the origin of the
name. Mr.. Genaro, an Italian whole
sslc dealer ON Washington street, sug-
| Gested that at one time several rottfrh
gems were found iu the stomach of one
of these snakes, hence the name. In
length they are about two feet. The
head is flat and sharp, and those who
profess to have knowledge on the sub
ject say that its bite is poisonous, though
not necessarily fatal.
SCORPIONS NOT RARE.
Scorpions of tho real zodiac order are