The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1895-05-23
INSECTS THAT HUNT.
Curious Creatures That Live in a strane
Manner.

N-@ANs AACNNsAAAFo
a cOnnoiSSeur would wine.
The bottle-a big-mouthed affair
was filled with diluted alcohol and held
an extraordinary-looking insect, that
was apparently all legs and claws and
almost a foot in length.
Il have caught any number of curious
creatures" continued the animal hunt
er, "but this is the most singular. I
was prowling the forest of one of the
South American countries one day in
search of specimens when l observed
small bird fiuttering violently and
evidently entangled among the
branches of small tree.
Approaching carefully 1 saw the
supposed branch move, but even then,
when within several feet of the bird,
still thought it impaled or caught in
some way. Suddenly, as l stretched
out my hand to release it, l saw that
the bird was in the grasp of a veritable
monster; gigantic insect that so i'm
itated the green twigs of the tree upon
which it stood that it was almost in
distinguishable. The animal was this
fellow l have in the bottle, as you see,
a perfect imitation of jointed green
twig. Even the small wings are imita-
ton of the leaves of plant
1T is a gigantic mantis-one of the
delicate, little praying fellows COMMON
to this country, but enlarged out of all
proportions-a veritable giant. 1t had
been resting on the twig or branch I'M
seen, completely protected by it's re-
semblance to the branch, and the
bird had possibly alighted in it and
been clasped in the traplilxe claws that
came together like springs. My sym
pathies were with the bird, but it was
such a remarkable occurrence that l
stood and watched the tragedy to the
finish. The terrible insect remained
immovable; only its two claws clutched
the bird, the sharp points perforating
it when it slowly pressed the strug-
Cling body against its mouth, appar-
emily sucking the blood. In any event,
the bird sooE died in its embrace, and
threw my insect net oTer the monster,
and here he is.
No, it did not struggle, and seemed
to be incapable of any quick move
ments, its limbs being raised almost
automatically. 1t gave me the impress
sion, in all its movements, of some
weird machine that had been wound
up and moved with the regularity of
clockwork. l learned from the natives
that the insect was famous as bird
catcher, taking birds as large as a spar
| row. In almost every case they must
have been deceived by the appearance
of the insect, thinking it branch of
the tree.
Our ordinary mantis little crea-
ture hardly an inch or SO in length,
preys upon other insects, catching
them just as this monster did the bird.
Before l went to South America"
continued the collector, II heard the
story of Nine. Merriam about the spiders
that captured birds, and l confess l
took it with grain of salt, but when
reached the deep jungle and saw the
wonderful butterflies, the gigantic spi-
ders, | was ready to believe anything,
and kept my eyes open. More than
this, one of my guides, an Indian, told
me that the tarantula lived on birds,
and he had seen them eating them.
Il found that most of the big spiders
did most of their exploring in the night,
finding several in my tent-huge hairy
creatures that would cover a saucer
One day as we were pushing along the
north branch of sluggish river, on the
outlook for game, my man, who was
twenty feet to my right with my gun,
gave a shout which brought me to his
! side, and there was the bird and the
spider The former was a good-sized
sparrow, which had evidently been
caught in net of some kind, and it
was entangled, and the spider, great
ugly fellow, had just seized it, and de-
spite the blows the bird gave it with
its wings and beak, was pressing it to
the fatal mandibles and soon killed it.
THE bird was as large as the spider,
and was a good illustration of the
strength of these insects, but they I'M
doubtedly rely to a great extent upon
the effect of their poison, which imme-
diately enters the veins of the victim
and tends to paralyze them.
During long trip frequently saw
these spiders capture birds. One meth
Cd was to crouch upon the plants, and
when the birds came fluttering around
the flowers the tarantula would sud-
denly seem to strike it down with it's
powerful front claws and in moment
send its mandibles through the flesh.
At other times the bird was apparently
caught in web that was spun for the
purpose of trapping them. This is the
method described by Nine. Merriam,
who came upon q huge spider devour-
ing bird that had evidently been
caught in web spun over crevice in
tree. She describes the monster de-
vouring its prey as disgusting spec
tacle, it having covered the unfortu-
nate bird with some secretion and was
slowly sucking its blood.
81 heard strange stories about the
tarantula. According to the natives it
was not always deadly, and gave to the
victim peculiar spasm, so that it APP
peared to go through a dance. Some
were rigid, their movements being
very slow. Others threw themselves
about in a frantic manner, as though
mad. The tarantula, the famous dance
of the Spanish people, is supposed to
be modelled after this singular disease,
and is often varu oranaful and q tfrao+