Tarantula

a large, running spider. The name is from Taranto, Italy. Several species, both Old World and New, are included and are popularly supposed to be venomous. They are spiders that chase their prey instead of weaving webs. They build tubular houses in the earth, fortified with a trap door or a turret. The tarantula of Texas is a huge, hairy fellow, whose legs extend two or three inches from tip to tip. It is a pleasure to know that a wasp more powerful than he stings him and hides him away for its young to feast on. The trapdoor spider is a tarantula. It lines a vertical tube with silk and constructs a circular trapdoor with a hinge and a beveled edge, that fits to a nicety. The trap opens upward. In time of danger the spider backs down and draws the door shut, and holds it down for dear life. One large tarantula is imported often in bunches of bananas and creates no little interest in Northern groceries. A mounted tarantula is a favorite curio with the tourists of the Southwest. One Pasadena dealer employs boys to collect specimens. He sells 8,000 tarantulas a year. See Spider