September 27, 2010 at 11:33 pm
#704323
anonyme
Participant
I just remembered a story to truly disgust you all. Apparently, the nursery tale “Little Miss Muffet” was at least partially based on fact. It’s said that Dr. Thomas Muffet, a homeopath, would make his daughter eat live spiders wrapped in soft white bread as a remedy. The spider species was Araneus, the very creature featured by the OP. I don’t know if the story is true or not – but I DO know that this species, as well as black widows (Latrodectus) is used in homeopathic medicine.