The Louisiana populist., 1897-07-02
ARIZONA REPTILES.
VENEMOUS CREATURES AS SEEN AT
VERY CLOSE RANGE.

VERY CLOSE RANGE.
The TarantuIa is Dangerous Fighter
A Killing Brought About by the Big
spider--An Enemy Feared By Him
The centipede's Hot Feet.
"He's an independent sort of fellow,
the tarantula," said a mining engineer
who resided for several years in Ari-
iona, in the New York Sun. "He's an
awkward walker, sometimes sprawling
like crab, and again lifting himself
stiffiy upright on his long, hairy legs,
30 that he suggests the idea that he
ts walking on stilts. He can run fast
IN occasion; but, whatever style Of
getting along he may adopt at any
time, there is always a devil-may-care
swagger to his gait, which says as
plainly as words could: Pm a fighter,
and dangerous, and l know it; and you
know it. Don't pick me up; and give
me ROOM The best looking feature
about the tarantula is his furry back,
varying from light brown to dark
brown in hue, and sleek and glossy.
His eye is bad, very bad, undersccred
as it is by the two curved, black poison
fangs as sharp as cambria needles. The
tarantula's temper is as bad as his
eye and it needs little provocation to
set him fighting mad. At such time
he develops an activity which makes
him the most dangerous of all the
Arizona reptiles. have seen taran-
tula in rage leap from the ground to
the height of mans breast, which Is
q longer striking reach than the larg-
est Western rattlesnake has.
GAS rule the tarantula, If left
alone, will, like other reptiles in gen
eral, retreat from the presence Of man.
Most Of the cases where persons have
been bitten by tarantulas have oc-
Cured through their unwarily coming
upon one where he thought he had no
chance to run; and frequent cause
tor such mishap is the rolling over Of
q sleeper upon a tarantula, or the
throwing out of a hand in sleep in the
direction where one may be, when in
stantly the reptile fastens to it's vic
tim with fury that is terrifying. His
bite is as dangerous as the rattle
snakes and the approved treatment
tor it is by the standard remedies, am
monia and whiskey. If treatment is
Immediate the bite, of any reptile rare
ly proves fatal to a healthy man,
though often recovery is slow and at
tended with pain, and sometimes dis
fgurement. Once in camp in Colfax
County, N. NJ, our party were driven
from the tent one night by tarantulas,
which for some reason unknown to us
swarrned in and took possession. None
of them offered to attack any of us,
but there they were on the ground, and
bedding and tent walls, and they were
coming faster all the time To try
and clear them out was hopeless, and
40 man cared to take the risk of try
Ing to sleep in such company; 80 we
maneuvred to get our bedding, and
then went out of doors to sleep under
the stars while the tarantulas kept the
tent In the morning when we went
to the tent, expecting to have roundup
of tarantulas, not one of the big spi-
ders was to be seen.
Zone of the quickest and completest
and most justifable killings that ever
I saw came about through tarantula.
II was at mine camp, and the camp
bully had a tarantula impaled on e
stick. A man newly arrived from the
East stood gazing, fascinated with hor-
ror at the squirming reptile, working
Its black fangs in the effort to reach |
something that 1t could fasten them
into. Suddenly, without warning, the
bully thrust the tarantula straight in
to the tenderfoot's face. His whis-
keEs saved him from the fangs, but
he let out yell as if he had actually
been bitten, and jumped back, I fully
believe, ten feet. Then, as the fellow |
came poking the tarantula toward him
again, the tenderfoot drew his revol-
yer and turned loose on his tormen-
tor. His first shot would have been
enough, as it went straight through |
the fellows body, but the tenderfoot
had his excitement to work of, and he
never stopped shooting until his re-
volver had been emptied and the
man with the tarantula was sieve.
Served him right was the verdict of
The Coroner's jury, and the case never
went to court for trial.
"The tarantula's nest is a curiosity.
It's interior is Of mud, dried by the
sun to the hardness of adobe brick.
Its interior, of cylindrical shape, is
lined with a fleecy white substance
like cotton wool, and this queer house
Is furnished with a circular door of
hardened mud, also lined with the cot
ton like material and opening outward
upon a hinge Of the same material.
Bold as the taranaula is, he has one
enemy from whom he will seek refuge
anywhere that he can-the tarantula
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