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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Country diary: one spider to make a song and dance about | Country diary: one spider to make a song and dance about |
| (12 days later) | |
| There were all sorts of exciting birds overhead, including vultures in elegant spirals and clusters of crag martins spooked up by a hunting sparrowhawk. Yet the group’s attention had been called to an insignificant hole in the bare ground by the picnic table. | There were all sorts of exciting birds overhead, including vultures in elegant spirals and clusters of crag martins spooked up by a hunting sparrowhawk. Yet the group’s attention had been called to an insignificant hole in the bare ground by the picnic table. |
| The hole was 4cm across and had an untidy circlet of dead grasses arranged in a silk-knotted perimeter. By sheer chance I had just read about the occupant and how it could be lured into view with a grass stem drooped into the burrow entrance like a fishing line. Sure enough, within seconds, book learning was turned into startling experience. | The hole was 4cm across and had an untidy circlet of dead grasses arranged in a silk-knotted perimeter. By sheer chance I had just read about the occupant and how it could be lured into view with a grass stem drooped into the burrow entrance like a fishing line. Sure enough, within seconds, book learning was turned into startling experience. |
| Amid a volley of involuntary expletives, there, suddenly, we could see camel-haired legs, an array of black eyes, a pair of beautiful marmalade-coloured palps, about 50 young spiderlings and the largest pair of spider jaws you’ve seen in your life. | Amid a volley of involuntary expletives, there, suddenly, we could see camel-haired legs, an array of black eyes, a pair of beautiful marmalade-coloured palps, about 50 young spiderlings and the largest pair of spider jaws you’ve seen in your life. |
| A fellow diarist, Matt Shardlow, informs me that it was a Lycosa hispanica, but let’s not split hairs. It was a tarantula: the Spanish form of L tarantula, which is, oddly, unrelated to its larger, hairier namesakes of the new world and is actually a member of the wolf spider family. | A fellow diarist, Matt Shardlow, informs me that it was a Lycosa hispanica, but let’s not split hairs. It was a tarantula: the Spanish form of L tarantula, which is, oddly, unrelated to its larger, hairier namesakes of the new world and is actually a member of the wolf spider family. |
| The French entomologist JF Fabre (1823-1915) found its venom fatal to sparrows and moles, but it is relatively harmless to humans. Yet the creature still inspired an extraordinary cultural history, partly, one surmises, because of its shocking appearance and the occasional nip from those formidable chelicerae. | The French entomologist JF Fabre (1823-1915) found its venom fatal to sparrows and moles, but it is relatively harmless to humans. Yet the creature still inspired an extraordinary cultural history, partly, one surmises, because of its shocking appearance and the occasional nip from those formidable chelicerae. |
| Tarantism, named after the southern Italian city of Taranto (whence the spider got its name), was a malaise that has passed in waves around the Mediterranean from the 11th century on. Individuals, sometimes whole villages, would fall victim to lethargy, depression and bodily pain brought on, so it was said, by the tarantula’s bite. | Tarantism, named after the southern Italian city of Taranto (whence the spider got its name), was a malaise that has passed in waves around the Mediterranean from the 11th century on. Individuals, sometimes whole villages, would fall victim to lethargy, depression and bodily pain brought on, so it was said, by the tarantula’s bite. |
| Most remarkable of all was the prescribed cure – vibrant music and dance that has steadily morphed into a distinctive Italian folk song, the tarantella. All this from a spider that makes of its broad back a papoose for its offspring and is so curious of callers it can be lured harmlessly on to an out-stretched palm. At least, by those that have the nerve for it. | Most remarkable of all was the prescribed cure – vibrant music and dance that has steadily morphed into a distinctive Italian folk song, the tarantella. All this from a spider that makes of its broad back a papoose for its offspring and is so curious of callers it can be lured harmlessly on to an out-stretched palm. At least, by those that have the nerve for it. |
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