—The treatment of centi pede-bites is the same as that of the sting of the scorpion.
Spiders.--In the North spiders have a worse reputation than they merit, the bites ascribed to them being inflicted by other insects. In Southern California, which is a semitropical region, so-called spider-bites are ascribable to the pirate bug (Rhasahus bigultalus), according to A. Davidson (Then Graz , Feb., '97).
In the tropics the majority of spiders at,:, not to be classed as poisonous, but their bites seem especially prone to pro voke ulcerations that are healed only with the greatest difficulty. The ground and trap-door spiders grow to great size- often the body alone is 2 or 2 7„ inches in length. They are hairy, most repul sive creatures, living in wells or tubes excavated in the soil, with a trap-door stop which is closed when the tenant is at home. The common trap-door spicier is generally known as "tarantula" in Jamaica and Cuba, because of its close resemblance (but generally is of smaller size) to the true tarantula, which is also found, but more sparingly. Both inflict wounds, when opportunity offers. but these wounds arc not of the highly poi sonous and dangerous nature generally imagined.
—Any of the preparations recommended for mosquito-bites are also useful in spider-bites. In severe cases the local injection of a 5-per-cent. solution of permanganate of potassium may prove advantageous, the patient's strength being simultaneously sustained by means of strychnine and, if need be, stimulants. Strong coffee enjoys great confidence in this particular.
Horse-fly.—The so-called "horse-flies," or deer-flies, occasionally attack man, and torture all four-footed creatures in the tropics. All are blood-suckers, and often deposit their larva along the spine, where the skin is thinnest, of horses, mules, etc.; one species deposits its eggs in the nose of these creatures. The bites are painful and persistent. Acute inflammation fol lowed by general toxtemia has been ob served after these bites in individuals previously weakened by disease or such excessive fatigue as soldiers are exposed to during campaigns. It usually attacks the back of the neck.
The laurel-leaf ointment and the car bolic-acid solution referred to under TREATMENT OF BITES AND STINGS IN CENERAL are excellent preventives for man and beast, while the general meas ures given are also applicable for the treatment of bites.
Land-leech.—The Philippine Islands are infested with a blood-thirsty land leech, most tormenting, but not danger ous, whose attacks in certain districts are not to be avoided except by the use of stout, tight-fitting, canvas leggings. In those of robust health leech-bites amount to little beyond mere annoyance, the difficulty sometimes encountered in stopping the bleeding, slight inflamma tion, and itching. But in those of de graded habits or in poor health, the punctures, if rubbed or scratched, are liable to degenerate into ulcers that may lead to loss of limb or life.
Snake-bites.—There are over twenty five species of poisonous snakes in the United States, the most common of which are the rattlesnake, the common viper, the copperhead, and the moccasin. In Northern climates, however, their activity is less marked than in tropical regions, and the bites are comparatively few. Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philip pines also possess a number of varieties, the most virulent, according to Stock well, being the boaquira, or juba, in Cuba and Porto Rico, and two venomous boas and a variety of viper in the Philippines. The former is described by this author as not more than four or five feet long, and practically, if not specifically, identical with the rattlesnake of Florida. It can generally be recognized by its mode of coiling when about to assume the of fensive, and the warning it always gives before striking.
Howard A. Kelly (Johns Hopkins Hos pital Bulletin, Dec., '99) recently lect ured upon these reptiles and gave the following general distinguishing feat ures:— The poisonous snakes of this country belong (excepting the little harlequin snake) to the group of pit-vipers. The "pit" found in all consists of a depression over the lip between the eye and the nostril. The head of pit-vipers is tri angular, with massive muscular develop ment of the jaw. Venomous snakes are thicker in proportion to their length, and their surface appears rough. The pupil is elliptical instead of round.