CORRESPONDENCE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XII, Issue 3796, 28 April 1891, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

The Zatipo. (To the Editor.) Sir.—The interest attached to a recent fatality from the bite of a katipo near Wellington has been disagreeably revived in some places by a paragraph which appeared in a late issue of the Wairarapa Daily. It appears thai during the baptism of a child in Feilding the officiating clergyman observed a spider on one of the sponsor's shawls and, presuming from its appearance that it was a katipo, killed it. That was quite right. But was the spider really a katipo ] and was its dead body preserved for the inspection of an expert ? That would have been more satisfactory, and would have quieted the apprehension of nervous people who have a horror of the katipo. Perhaps the spider wasn't a katipo at all; for Feilding is an inland town, and it is generally understood that the katipo is never found more than a few miles from the sea. How then did it come ? The young lady's home may be near the sea, and she may have unwittingly taken the spider in her dress, band-box or otherwise. In connection with this matter, however, only a few days ago a spider answer* ing exactly to the popular descripti on of the katipo was found a few miles from Eke tab una. It was about the size of a pea, of the usual colour, and with two red stripes down its back. When about to be sent to Wellington, however, it unfortunately escaped, and another opportunity was lost of deciding whether the katipo really exists in the bush, It is said that katipos have been found in the sandy banks of a creek near Maurioeville, and a few years ago a man was bitten there by something which he did hot see, tiut owing to the swelling and intense pain it is generally believed that he was bitten by a katipo. The man ultimately recovered, but foi some time afterwards his health was rather precarious. The whole subject is interesting, and it would be some satisfaction to know definitely if the katipo has really ever been found inland, or if any other spider answering the description of the katipo is a denizen of the bush, and if so, is it harmless ? I am, etc, Bush Settles.