The morning journal-courier., 1908-02-22
THE TARANlULA
A Curious Spider That Has Been Much and Ignorantly
 Maligned.
NOT AGGRESSIVE UPON MAN
Its Growth Requires Twenty Years With Skin Shedding Each
 Year.

The great tarantula of the southwest | ern part of the United States, like 1. many another poisonous creature. as well as some that are quite harmless, | Is much maligned. It is not aggressive | upon man, nor is it often intrusive thdugh many an old miner or pros pector has shaken them out of his ! blankets or boots in the morning" Strange to say, tarantulas thus dis lodged are usually the size of a saul cer" It is often stated that the spider frisks about in the sunshine on the hot sands Of the desert, but in reality it avoids sunshine when it is hot, and remains well down in it burrow in the ground. About sundown it comes up to the opening and lies in wait just below the surface. 1t assumes this position whether it desires food or only wishes to get a bit of fresh air. It does not travel about in quest of food, even when hungry but remains quietly in the attitude described, often for hours at a time. At the near approach of a caterpillar, grasshopper, beetle, or al most any creature of like size, other than its enemy the wasp it rushes out and seizes 1t; but rarely goes farther than few inches from the opening. s i'd the prey, when first arrested. si llate death, which often is the case, since usually it is not at once wounded the spider, unless it is very hungry, remains quiet until the insect x1-1a1. 11 t1l f,x are thrust into it. By pausing, it learns the nature of the object seized. The spider then retreats with it into it's burrow, to feast, where the prey is ground up by the powerful mandibles, and the liquid portion, upon which the spider subsists, is sucked out. One fair-szed insect a week is sufficient to satify it hunger, becaue of it's inactive existence, while it can live several !, months without food, even when most active, provided it has water. The spider will fgh. and destroy its own kind, but when equally matched the combatants spar for an advantage and rarely clinch unless one relinquishes It's vigilance, when the other buries it's fangs in it. It does not then relinquish It's hold until the helpless captive dies of paralysis, induced by the poison in jected. Death results in 10 or 20 min utes. There are approximately seven or eight females to each male. The adult males are highly energetic and. unlike their phlegmatic mates, cannot be kept long in confinement They wear them selves out in ceaseess endeavor to es- cape. This striking degree of activity Is an essential attribute, since the fe- males live often remote from one an other and take no initiative in the courtship.
 The tarantula does not dig it's own tunnel It takes possession of some deserted hurrow, usually that of a pocket gopher. which to the adult spider seems highly satisfactory. These burrows run, for the most part, hori- zontally, but the spider enters through R short vertical shaft. The burrows are two or three inches in diameter, but the spider at once restricts the en- trance nearly to the diameter of its own body. It does this in singular and interesting manner, affording a striking example illustrating the wide resourcefulness of lowly creatures. The spinnerets are two flexible and nova ble processes upon the under side of which are long rows of pore from which the silk is drawn out in a multi plicity of frail threads. With these or gans, free particles of earth on the floor of the burrow are covered with a fro ,uh i,l, ic tLon Iol gether, along with much of the loose earth, which adheres to it. The wad is then carried up and pressed agalns, the vertical wall. where it adhercs when it is further secured in place with more silk. The wads may be a half inch in diameter, and often many are required to finish the task
 In autumn the spider closes the en- trance completely in this manner, fire. quently using large quantity of ma terial. It is then ready to pass the winter in a semilethargic state, partak- ing of no food. If the burrow is stil in good condition it Is cleaned out the refuse being placed in circle about the opening, where it renders the abode conspicuous. If the burrov proves untenantable another one i. sought at once. There is evidence tend ing to show that the spider does no seek another habitation as long as thu old one is suited to it's needs; and quite often number have been found tha had lived at least three years in on, place, judging by the number of dis carded skins of suggestive size found in the burrow. During the growth o the tarantula, which requires about q years, it sheds its entire skin once eacl year-in midsummer. The event is al important one to the spider and as i is then quite helpless, the entrance i previously closed,a sheet of silk drawl across it sufficing.
 In June 200tor 300 eggs are produc cd in mass which Is at once covered with silk. The tunnel unlike that of tn, trap-door spider. is not lined with silk therefore to guard the eggs agains contamination. while they are uncov cred, the spider first incloses itself il