Thanks Michael, you always deliver the best vermin. I would like to send a special heads up to the Leslie Boyer outfit in Tucson to provide them with examples of field research as practiced in the Texas Hill Country (I think thats called ecumenicalism or something) :) I remember areas in the high Sonora desert where every space out of the sunlight within a few weeks in the growing season develops such a large population of black widow spiders (Latrodectus I think Northern Arizona is occupied by L. Mactans or L. Hesperus or both or maybe one of them is kind of another - I know that the ones I saw in immature forms (or is it the males or the immature males or are males all immature?) had sort of cheerful brown and white markings. It is probably just a rural legend (We did not have enough population in Cornville to qualify for an urban legend) but I talked to several old plumbers and carpenters and a cowboy or two who moonlighted who insisted that they crawled over, burised, exasperated, squashed, disturbed, terrorized and (yes, Texas) smashed so many of these creatures in the conduct of their employment that they can only assume that they have been and are bitten repeatedly and it has no effect. But as to that I really have no idea except to wonder that they havent keeled over from a multiple bite at some point. I know that happens with bees (who have only six legs by the way and are not really that interesting to true connoisseurs of venom bearing vermin - oh I suppose there are the Hualapai Tigers. Lost a great uncle to bees. An old ranger, he had survived various protracted gun battles on the Rio Grande back in the Pancho Villa days but he met his match in a hive of bees he was keeping. He had been stung by a bees before but on that occasion was stung by at least one too many of them. Apparently resistance to the venom was not a mitigating factor. He lived just south of the Texas Hill country. I think he must have erred in his field work procedure. Instead of trying to smash them he should have run like hell or at least try to shoot them (cf below) on the theory that if he picked off a few the remaining bees would not pack enough venom to kill him). And no I dont think they had any stinking badges. If they had he would have escaped. Everybody knows you never ever attack a brother officer of the law in Texas, Its just not done. Lets hope the spiders dont know that.
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 12:37:40 +0000
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