The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-05-27

ailments to which the flesh of the darby
Is heir. Again. live snakes are used in
the mysterious ceremonies of 'Voodoo' i,
and the several uses to which they are put
and the fortunes which they are often
forced to undergo are supposed to annihi-
late witches, remove spells put upon the
dsrkies by malicious persons and to in
sure the presence of good luck. When
one of the snake hunters Is bitten he
treats it as light matter. Locating the
wound, he whips out his jackknife, en-
larges it until the blood flows, and drains
it with his lips. It is seldom one of them
dies of snake bite.
"There is great deal OF unnecessary
mystery exploited by stories of the pois-
onous insects Of the extreme South, such
as the uarantula. Certainly, II the blood
of a victim Is out of order, tarantula 8
bite NAV be fatal, but wasp sting under
the same circumstances might be just as
| dangerous. Persons bitten by that insect
| If otherwise in health, seldom. die A
great many Of the Southern spiders are
poisono is, but hardly more SO than those
Of the North. Their yirulence is greater
| In some years than In others.
lone OF the most singular Of our South
ern spiders is found on tho borders of the
Everglades. He is large and yellow, and
two points on each side Of path or
cleared space. This airy fabric Of his
spinning is broad In the middle and
| tapers at each end to q fine point. So
brilliant Is the coloring of the yellow
| spider that one would naturally think it
would insure his destruction by the birds
and animals which prey upon insects;
the Everglades his form is strongly out
lined. and the dark leaves over which he
soampers afford him no better protection
| from the keen eyes of woodland foes.
But he knows very yell how to conceal
himself when danger threatens.
noise the little yellow spider will suffer
you to stop at q safe distance and exam
inc him as he sits sedately in the center
Of hie silky web. But If you should make
q motion ss II to disturb him. presto !!
10th spider and web disappear as If by
magic. However, If you are patient and
willing to await developments, in a few
blur in tho place where the spider and
web Vanished. Next you will become
cognizant Of glancing ball of yellow
which gradually dissolves. and in its
place is the spider, swaying upon his
trembling Web Move toward him again.
and the strange disappearance is repeated,
for just as soon as his safety Is imperiled
tions become too numerous for the eye to
follow, and he is lost to sight. AS the
vibrations become slower you notice the
blur, and then the yellow ball, which is
caused by the dancing web, and which
| continues before your eyes until the
silky hammock 10 nearly at rest.
What do you think Of crab which
like fairy tale, doesn't itS But it Is a
fact. for all that. This son Of Cancer,
which ID large and quite blue in color,
lives among the heron rookertes in the
lower part Of Florida, where he digs a
house In the sand under drift logs or
large stones. It Is not often that he vent
ures abroad by day. but at night he steals
Something to eat with him means the bits
Of fish left In the BIRDS nests by the
young gaplings, or, II there Is not enough
Of 1t to appease his ravenous appetite and
the mother of q brood Is absent, he will
| help himself to a nesting But woe be-
tide that crab detected by bird mother
IN the act OF robbipg her nest. Her sharp
hill soon beats through the marauder's
brittle shell and his flesh is distributed
am eng those very gaplings he had fondly
hoped to feast upon. When the plume
hunters make their annual predatory IN
tursions into the regions Of breeding
herons and the parent birds are driven
in swarms and makes the slaughter COM
plete by devouring all the young.
"India has fishes which climb trees and
migrate from stream to stream in dry
season. Florida can match her with a
great snail which climbs trees and feasts
on the young birds, like his fellow rob-
Der, the blue crab. The shell of this snail
is oaline, and almost as transparent as
glass. It's shape is odd and handsome.
| This snail is edible and not unlike those
found on the coast of France and which
are SO much in demand in the markets of
Paris. In some places they are SO abun.
dant that shake Of a tree will bring
down a bushsl of Them"