Death from the Bite of a Katipo.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue III, 10 February 1891, Page 2

Death from the Bite of a Katipo.

♦ . The death of poor Malcolm Fraser au expressman, whose family reside' at Newtown, and which is supposed to have been caused by the bite of a katipo spider, has naturally awakened considerable interest. Fraser, it appears, attended the races on the 22nd ult., and whilst on the Hutt Course he received a bite on his right wrist from a katipo spider. He suffered intense pain for several days, and on the 29th ult. ho became an in-patient of the Hospital. There was a small inflamed ring on the wrist when he was admitted, similar to that caused by a flea-bite. The arm commenced to swell still more on the following day, until from the wrist to the shoulder it presented a frightful appearance. He became delirious with pain and symptoms of erysipelas also presented themselves. Notwithstanding all the attention which his medical attendants could suggest Fraser succumbed yesterday, There can be no doubt that the primary trouble was caused by the bite of the spider, but there are reasons for be- ' lieving that the patient's health was by no means in a perfect state. A simple scratch, under unfavourable conditions of a person's health has frequently proved fatal, so that it need cause no scare to picnickers and seaside visitors to hear that Fraser died after receiving the bite he did. 'It would be as well, however, if holiday-seekers used caution in their jauntings. — Post. At the inquest, held on Saturday, the jury returned a verdict which said that death was due to erysipelas, consequent on the lite of a katipo spider. In the evidence offered, Wm M. Maskell, Registrar of the New Zealand University, deposed that in America, Australia, Southern Europe Northern Africa, and probably India and Madagascar, where similar spiders to the katipo were found, the impression prevailed that they were poisonous and it seemed lately to have been fairly decided that the genus to which the katipo belonged was venamous. In hot climates or warm weather the poison might more powerfully assert itself. He had heard of cases of poisoning by the New Zealand katipo, and had personal knowledge ot one such case. It would seem from a list of cases witness produced, prepared by Mr R. Allan Wight, of Auckland, that in the case of healthy adult persons the

bite would probably not have fatal effects, though great pain, severe der - gression and spasms would be ap■^/parent. The spider was for the moat part found near the seashore and where there were sand-hills, it being common in Wellington in the neighbourhood of the seashore.