The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-07-26
THE MEXICAN WASP.
How the Insect Cured a Very Bad Gas
of Rbeuma ism.


virus of certain Mexican spider being |
a sure cure or preventive OF typhus'
said well known railway passenger /
agent recently. Some people may |
doubt it. but, knowing what | do about
the curative properties OF another
cheerful creature that makes Mexico It's
home. I'd be willing to back that SPIDER
to knock out the typhus or anything
else The insect that doctored me IS an
interesting specimen of the wasp faIni-
". | forget what the Mexican name
for it is, but translated it means taran-
tula hawk, and it is called that because
it has way of swooping down on the
tarantula and disposing Of it as easily
as chicken hawk can do up pullet-
''This wasp is the only thing that pig
hairy spider is afraid of. The tarantula
will tackle a rattlesnake or a bear
without moments hesitation rut IL
turns tail and digs for home if there IS
tarantula hawk buzzing anywhere IN
its vicinity. The wasp doesn't eat the
tarantula It simply drops down on 1t
and socks its singer in the spider,
whereupon the spider turns up its toes
The wasp lays a couple OF eggs IN the
| heshy part of the tarantula's big oody
and then buries its victim. The curious
mart of it is the spider isn't dead. 1t IS
only paralyzed or embalmed, SO to
speak. with all its vital juices intact
The wasps eggs hatch out grubs IN the
course of time, and the grubs go rlght
to work dining on the tarantulas pre-
served meat.
"When they have eaten it all they
bore out of the spiders she'll dig their
way to the surface, and become wasps
themselves, and start out for business
on their own account. This interest
ing wasp is something like a couple OF
inches long when it is of age, and has
a singer with close on to an men OF
plunge. This singer is what you
might call a nonforfeitable singer, Tor
it doesn't yield itself up at single
plunge, like honey bee does its sting
err. but is good for an all days job. The
Mexican wasp is the color of a bay
horse. and they say down there that it
will go ten miles out of its way to
sting a man. The natives get tat on
centipede stings and scorpion sings
but they will dive for cover when the
wasp of that favored cline heaves to.
had the honor, to my everlasting JOY,
of being tasted once by one of these
blessings in disguise. Why to my ever
lasting JOY? will tell you
'.For fifteen years l had been big
favorite with the rheumatism II
seemed willing, even anxious, to put
all it had on me at any time. l had
tried pills. and liniments, and batteries,
and springs, and every other unfalllne
remedy for rheumatism, but still II
chung to me closer and closer. A couple
of wears ago a friend of mine told ne
to 90 down into Mexico and try the
climate there, because, he said, ne
knew a man who had gone there al
most tied in a knot by rheumatism, anc
- he got well.
so | went down into Mexico, ano
q promptly and steadily got worse every
I dav. was getting ready to come bacl
o home and die. if | could, when one day
n Mexican wasp plying me, l suppose
I came along and socked his singer int
4 me. He sampled me on the cheek, and
; although had been passenger agen
E for twenty years, my cheek was feaze'
= by that wasp At first l felt as II tn
i. whole of one side of my head wa
asleep. / had heard all about the wa
: these wasps treated tarantulas, and
q said:
".Great Scott, Is this wasp going t
- embalm me. fill me full of eggs, an
= serve me as free lunch to its inciplen
k progeny
~ MY face kept on getting cold, and
n couldn't make it hurt by pinching 1t
l. pricking it with a pin. In the horro
Is of what l supposed was my impendin
fate. | lost all recollection Of the rhe'
r. matte pains that had been turning n
70 almost inside out only minute or
L. before. The cheering numbness an
- GOODNESS in my face and head d,dn
"a last long. They quit as suddenly
"A they c.nne, and were succeeded by
20 panr such as l imagine might folio
Ia the insertion of wire into sensiti7
"a part OF your body, and then having
~ gradually heated until it stood at viii
be heat. 1 clawed my jaw and pulled Il
"a hair and pranced around and howle
Five minutes before it was all cou
5a do to hobble around with a cane
,;S a sympathetic native told me
a. would keep on feeling that way for
70 counle of hours. l did. for pobo'
~, would lend me a pistol. | could ha
- laid down and died with willingne:
=, and moaned and moaned when ii
to told me that the sting of the Mexlc
wasp never killed anybody. The t
hours that kept company with
fa- aftermath OF that wasp's plunger wt
- two hours OF mortal agony. But
-. main went away after that so sudder
that went TO sleep and had delight
- dreams. When I awol1e / felt like
new man. The cheek hadn't svollel
particle during the entire course OF
,vo treatment. but II was as sore as n
bells for two days
~, Now, queer as 1t may SEEM could
imagine what il was about ne that
50 new and strange for those two da
and then all of sudden il hit me L
II was because my rheumatism y
led zone. There was no more sign
va rheumatism about ne than there
TIL about a kitten. And there never
vay heeu from that day to this / dc
- care how bad man has rheuulati
le. him go down and take the Mexi
lus' wasp-sting treatment. and he'll for
De ne ever had II. / know what the Nj
-eh- can wasp can do il rheumatism. anC
arn I am willing TO hack that Mex
en- spider at big odds against typhus,
ies' YOU may tell EN- that say so. N
'out
,me ---