You may have heard of a friendly spider named Charlotte in the book, Charlotte's Web.  Well, if you ever come across a little black spider with a red mark on its stomach that looks like a nmber eight -- forget Charlotte!  This is the black widow spider, one of the most deadly creatures we know of. 

    The word widow means the woman's husband has died.  Well, the female black widow spider becomes a widow in a very unusual manner.  After mating, the black widow spider eats her poor husband.

     How deadly is this common American spider which is no larger than a person's fingernail?  The black widow's poison is stronger than the same amount of rattlesnake poison.  She can, and does, kill human beings.  Even her eggs are poisonous.

     But at least you don't have to worry about the male black widow.  He is small and, unlike his wife, completely harmless.