It may be that only under certain uncomprehended conditions is
the venom of the Latrodectus effective. Inoculation of guinea
pigs with the poison has been without any resultant symptoms.
Scientific experimenters have suffered themselves to be bitten
and have experienced no ill effects. The foreign cousins of the
American species, however, have as evil a repute as the
"mactans." The "katipo," found in sedges on the beach of New
Zealand, is dreaded by the Maoris, who traditionally refuse to
sleep nearer than half a stone's throw from the water, that being
the extent of range of the spider. The Latrodecti of Corsica,
Algeria, and France are infamous in the lore of the country folk,
which fact must be regarded as strongly evidential, when their
insignificant appearance is taken into account.
Only in America is there no popular fear of this really
formidable little creature. Yet it is found in almost every part
of the United States, though by no means one of the commoner
spiders. In the past five years I have seen two specimens at my
country place in central New York, and have heard of a dozen
others. If people understood generally that this rather
ornamental insect is both more perilous to life and health, and
rather more prone to attack human beings, than the
superstitiously dreaded "deadly" copperhead, there would probably
be a heavy mortality in the Latrodectus family at the hands of
energetic house-cleaners.