KATIPO SPIDERS

Waikato Independent, Volume XXIV, Issue 3229, 7 June 1924, Page 5

KATIPO SPIDERS

PLENTIFUL AT OTABX HUSBAND AND WIFE BITTEN A Wanganui resident on Monday morning displayed to a. Wanganui Herald representative thirty katipos which ho collected at Otaki in the course of half an hour’s summaging around the yards of the seaside cottages, there. He found two under the top of a benzine tin, another under a piece of old lino., and the balance under bits of wood, some close to the backdoors of the dwellings. The informant’s visit to Gtaki was for the purpose of inquiring about the health of two of his relatives, who a week ago were bitten by katipos. It appears thov had been gathering driftwood on the beach, and it is surmised that one of the poisonous spiders clung to the clothes of one of the parties and got into the bed. During the night the lady was bitten on the arm, and a few minutes afterwards her husband w\*is bitten on the log. Within half-an-hour both were suffering violent pain, and a doctor was hastily summoned. The woman’s arm swelled considerably, and the finger-nails and palm of the hand became black. When the doctor arrived she had fainted with the severity of thegpain. Restoratives and other remedies were applied, and the sufferers have now recovered, though the lady was severely ill for several weeks. It may be added that the spider was subsequently caught and killed. The venomous katipo can be found all along the sea coast in the Wellington province, and there are quite a number at Castlecliff.

The krttipo does not attack but bites in self-defence. When disturbed it coils its legs around its body. It is about the size of a pea, a black body, with a red stripe plainly discernible.