THE SPIDER-HUNTERS 



circled round the spot three or four times, and then flew 

 off like a hurricane. Never have we seen a creature so 

 fiery, tempestuous, cyclonic. Before we knew her proper 

 title we took to calling her 

 the tornado wasp, and by 

 that name we shall always 

 think of her. 



Her flight was too rapid 

 to follow, but in a minute 

 we saw her returning. She 

 was carrying a spider, a 

 good - sized specimen of 



, . , POMPILUS QUINQUENOTATUS 



Epeira stnx, which she had 



evidently deposited somewhere in the neighborhood 

 before beginning to dig. Alighting near by, she left the 

 spider lying on the ground, while she ran to her nest and 

 kicked out a little more earth. Then seizing it by one 

 leg, she dragged it, going backward herself, into the 

 nest. She remained hidden for about two minutes, 

 then reappeared, and, seeming to be in as great a 

 hurry as ever, filled the hole with dirt. To disguise 

 the spot and render it indistinguishable from the rest 

 of the field was her next care. Hither and thither she 

 rushed, now bringing little pellets of earth and placing 

 them above the nest, now sweeping away the loose dust 



199 



