Abstract
The katipo spider of New Zealand has attained much notoriety in this country and elsewhere when poisonous spiders are discussed. It is, however, evident that many of the popular beliefs concerning this spider in New Zealand are of a rather legendary nature and not a few of the statements made in printed matter, both here and overseas, fall into the same category. In the present work an attempt has been made to collect the cases of spider bite which have been reported in New Zealand and also to investigate a number of alleged cases unreported. The clinical signs and the course taken by a case are compared with cases of bite of the better known spiders of America and Australia. A number of experiments were conducted on various laboratory animals to determine the sequence of events when such animals are bitten by the katipo also after intraperitoneal injection of a poison extract. The animals were examined from the pathological point of view to determine whether or not there were any organic lesions specific or otherwise. Experiments were also conducted in an attempt to render animals immune to the bite. These results are compared with those of Kellaway on the red-back spider of Australia. Finally various facts concerning the life history, habits and distribution of the katipo are noted.