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Otago Witness, Issue 3957, 14 January 1930, Page 50

Air W. W. Smith, of New Plymouth, writes as follows to the Wellington Post regarding the katipo: “ After years of observation on and experience with this venomous and dangerous spider in its haunts in the wrack on the seashore, and in captivity, I may state that the months of January, February, and Afarch comprise the period of the year when they are most active and most dangerous. Since the planting of marram grass along the seashore, katipos have somewhat altered their habits and habitats. Formerly they generally occurred under heavy wrack—especially under the heavy drift logs cast ashore, and under damp stones along the seashore. I now find them much more numerous under dense tufts of marram grass than in their former haunts. As the tufts of grass increase in size, the points of the outer leaves bend down to the firm sand and become embedded in it. The space between the embedded points of the leaves and the parent plant is now the chief habitat of the katipo, according to my long experience with the species on the Taranaki coast. Sea bathers would, therefore, do well to avoid standing or sitting on clumps of marram grass growing along the seashore.”