A Duel To The Death

Description of a Fierce Battle Between a Centiped and a Tarantula.

A remarkable fight to the death between a centiped more than seven inches long and a tarantula as bi: aa a pear is described by H. I. Coleman. an American, recently from Mexico.

Coleman was employed by the Mexican government, and his work took him to the little town of Jalapa, in the state of Vera Cruz, where he found the natives indulging in this pastime.

José Morales, a Mexican foreman, brought from the bunkhouse a glass jar, in which he had imprisoned a giant centiped, a most repulsive looking creature, that ran up the sides and around the top of the cloth covered jar with lightning-like speed. lts hundreds of legs quivered and changed color in the sunlight and fastened in the cloth cover. Some sharp taps on the glass with a knife handle caused the centiped to curl up in the bottom of the glass. In a second a Mexican who held a cigar box opened it, and a black object dropped into the jar just as the cloth top was whisked to one side. A moment more and the cloth had been replaced and tied. None too soon, as the centiped ran up the sides of the glass and hung to the cloth.

The centiped commenced to run with great speed around the top of the cloth covered jar, while the spider made no sign except to follow with his eyes the movements of the centiped.

The latter seemed to think that his rapid motion would confuse the spider. All at once the thousand legged worm dropped from the cloth top. As he fell the tarantula sprang upward and with inconceivable swiftness dropped down on top of the creature, biting once and then running quickly away.

The centiped, apparently unhurt, climbed the side of the glass swiftly, then crawled across the top and looked down toward his enemy again with his head extended and his first pair of fore legs free in readiness for the bite.

The centiped's fore feet, let it be noted, are armed with hollow horns through which the venom spurts into the wound. This one hung for a second above the great spider and swung deliberately backward and forward. His hundreds of legs moving with excitement, he again dropped. again the spider sprang, but. overreaching in his jump. struck the cloth top of the jar.

Falling on his back, he lay with his legs in the air for an Instant only, but giving time enough for the centiped to dart forward, fastening himself to the big, hairy body.

The spider ran round and round the bottom of the jar, dragging the centiped, who had fastened himself and held on tenaciously. Then came a sudden twist. Now the tarantula seized the middle of the other's body. His strong jaws it seemed would cut through the substance of his adversary. Yet in a moment the creatures were free and lay watching each other across the bottom of the jar. The attack had up to this point been opened by the centiped, but this time it was the tarantula that darted across. With better luck he fastened himself just back of the centiped's head, and in a moment the body of the ugly worm was wrapped close about him.

They remained fastened in this position for several seconds. The tarantula was evidently doing some execution, as the bottom of the jar already showed several of the centiped's severed leg.

Again they separated, both crawling slowly around watching for one last hold. The tarantula again darted in, and this time he lifted the squirming centiped clear and snapped him in two. But even with this the fight was not over. The centiped, with head and little more than half his body, renewed the attack, grappling again with the spider and hanging on until the other creature fell dead. The centiped was declared the conqueror, because when the two were dumped out on the table by the excited natives who had wagered money on the result its feelers still waved backward and forward. The motion was feeble, but still there was life, and so the centiped had won.