10 BEES AND WASPS CH. 



hesitation as to direction, seized it by one leg, and 

 walking backwards dragged her victim a foot or so 

 nearer the hole: then once again she must satisfy 

 her anxiety that all is right at home, and back she 

 scampers to inspect her front door ; oft' again to the 

 spider, brings him another foot or so on the journey; 

 again, is home quite safe? back once more to her 

 victim ; but she had left him on a sloping bit of sand, 

 and he had rolled helplessly down a few inches; 

 so "when she got there the cupboard was bare." 

 I laughed outright to see the mute astonishment de- 

 picted in this ferocious little huntress when she did 

 not find her spider where she expected : she turned 

 round, looked in every direction, waved her antennae 

 to and fro, as though to say " Surely I left him here ; 

 this certainly is the place." However, she wasted 

 no time, but made a cast round the spot and soon 

 recovered her treasured victim and resumed her task 

 of alternately dragging it along and inspecting her 

 burrow. At last she had the spider at the door of 

 her den, and then entering backwards she dragged 

 it down after her very rapidly and disappeared. 

 After waiting vainly for half an hour in hopes of 

 her return, I rose to go, intending to return later in 

 the day; but in getting up I loosened some of the 

 fine wind-blown sand, and a petty avalanche swept 

 down smothering the mouth of the burrow. With 

 a grass-stem I did my clumsy best to re- open the hole, 



