Imperial Valley press., 1936-10-11

season has arrived. He leaves his web, goes on
a strict diet and begins his long search for
wife In preparation for this he deposits sperm
on a sheet of silk woven for that purpose and
takes it up in two bulbs at the end of his feelers
These bulbs act like tiny pistols.
,E pauses at the home of the first Black
Fl Widow and disturbs her web. When the
lady spies him she makes a dash for him, and
if he is smart he retreats to the edge of the
silken home. There he begins a dance on the
fragile strings If she decides he will do she
joins the dance. Later, he wraps the lady in
few yards of fine silk and all is WE'LL
But the Black Widow is as easily bored and
soon walls angrily, $50 this is marriage" Hef
eight powerful legs strike out, break the yards
of silken covering and she looks around for
something to eat. The first thing she sees is the
trembling husband, who begins to realize what
IS coming. 1t is the big moment in his career.
and probably his last
If, as sometimes happens, the male has
thought to bring along a dead fly to appease
her appetite, the widows attention may be held
long enough for him to escape. The Black
Widows hunger at this time and all other times,
is astonishing. Professor Herms observed one in
his laboratory which in the course of its short
life consumed $50 house flies, 33 fruit flies, two
crickets, several husbands, and one Black
Widow
Romance over, the Black Widow has time
for more important events. She begins to spin
sken sac an inch in diameter, and in this de-
posits from 25 to 80 eggs After this sac Is
closed she anchors it fast to her web, and
stands guard In IA to 80 days the young begin
to hatch and the fun starts. They hatch but
do not break from the egg sac for several days
more, and during this period they whet their
appettes by numbering each other fast
possible.
The survivors leave the nest and establish
themselves by spinning their own webs,
cupying abandoned webs of other spiders
The recurring question is, What shall 1 do
if bitten by Black Widow"
There isn't much layman can do" Profes-
sor Herms says. IF one knows he has been
bitten, the best procedure is to put iodine the
wound, then call a doctor"
Strange as it may sound, many victims of the
Black Widow don't realize they have been
bitten. The fangs of this spider small and
make exceedingly tiny punctures which may or
may not leave marks. The first intimation that
something is wrong may not until the
venom starts to work. Even then, if is
familiar with the symptoms, he mistakes the
condition for food poisoning, some other
acute intestinal or abdominal disturbance
rEAR of spiders dates back several hundred
years, when an epidemic of hysteria known
as the Dancing Mania spread over half of
Europe. 1t began in Italy and fared through
most of Germany and France. Today science
believes that this epidemic was due primarily to
emotional disturbance, akin to fever
Or religious fanatscism.
Thousands of men and women went tempor-
arily mad, and danced through the streets
bitten, it was said, by a great hairy spider
which was prevalent in the part of Italy where
the Dancing Mania began. The spiders bite
was blamed for the insane cavorting of the
populace, and the spiders were named taran-
tulas after the town of Taranto, Italy
Doctors explained that the urge to dance and
prance through the streets and fields was Ma
tures method of overcoming the tarantula
poison. Victims of the mania were encouraged
to dance, and music was composed for their
special benefit. Even today, music called the
tarantea, is played at a fast tempo = and it
was similar music which medieval Europe be-
ieved would cure the Dancing Mania and kill
the tarantulas as we'll Bands of musicians were
organized to march over the countryside send
ing out blasts of the tarantellas by flute Turk
ish drum, and oboe
In reality, the tarantula is not particularly
dangerous.
Professor Herms tested this while irving to
lrouse large tarantula into irritated action for
the benefit of moving picture camera men The
spider bit him, as gesture of independence He
covered the wound with iodine to prevent in
fection and waited to what might happen
The spot bit sore for few hours, and
disappeared
He does not recommend however, that anyone
make the same test with Black Widow.