An infant lay on his back, squirming around in the slimy carpet of rotted leaves which covered the floor of the woods. It shrieked and cried for its mother in the night air, the pitiful wailing screams muted by the fog. The first toe on the left foot was missing and blood pulsed from the wound. Insects began their painful inspection of the child and the agonized crying amplified.

A mother heard the pleading child and moved through the trees towards the sound. Silently, the tree spider descended down from the canopy above the baby with its spinnerets stretching a rope of web behind it. Barbed front legs poked and prodded the kid while shining eyes appraised his seeping foot.

The thick haired legs and abdomen landed above the child, fangs sank into the boy’s belly, poison sacks pumped corrosive venom into the massive holes, and a steel trap sprang up from the leaves to crunch the spider between its teeth.

Several men of the Forestry Service appeared with wide-brimmed hats and struck the beast down by axe.