THE FALSE SPIDER

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 3614, 18 November 1924, Page 7

THE FALSE SPIDER

A ZOO FRAUD WITH A HUGE APPETITE. Here is the menu devoured by the new “False Spider,” which has just settled down in the insect house at the London Zoo : First day ; Three crickets. Second day: .Three grasshoppers. Third day: Three cockroaches. Fourth day: Three blowflies. Fifth day: A -jin cube of meat. In the midst of a pallid hedge of lung and hairy legs, you see a surprising body, writes “ L.G.M.” in the ‘Daily Mail. Instead of a “ blob,” there is a long, flat, jointed arrangement, which suggests a giant wasp that has had an argument with a steam roller. All the rest is very spider-like, but the thing is really a link between the spiders and the scorpions. It comes from Burma, but is also found in the Near East. Camel men dread it because it lurks in the hair of the camel, and can give a most painful bite. While on the topic of bites, it may be mentioned that the keeper of the insect house has rather lost bis respect for the fangs of the real poisonous “ bird-eating spider.” He knew that even the reddish bristles on the creature were as poisonous as nettles, but he has handled them so often that he has become immune to this particular trouble. Now he has just been properly bitten by an enraged female. It hurt as much as an ordinary cut, and for the next thirty-six hours two joints of his finger seemed to be partly paralysed. Then the effects wore off.