WORKERS IN CLAY 



spider it does not leave it for another. The others then 

 remain intact, which is enough to keep them fresh during 

 the short period of larval life. When, on the contrary, 

 the prey consists of a single large piece, it is necessary 

 that the organic life should be maintained, and a special 

 art must also be observed in eating it. It is well then 

 that Pelopaeus is inspired to take numerous small pieces. 

 The egg, moreover, is always placed on the first spider 

 brought in, whether the storing of the nest is completed 

 within a few hours, or whether, as in some cases, it 

 occupies several days; and this M. Fabre considers a 

 very happy arrangement. 



The French Pelopaei differ from ours at nearly every 

 point. Ours kill only about two thirds of their victims, 

 many of the others being paralyzed so perfectly that 

 they live for two or three weeks. Again, ours, instead 

 of placing the egg upon the first spider, almost invariably 

 lay it upon the last one brought in. Another point of 

 difference is that our larvae frequently start in by eating 

 up the soft abdomens, like children who first devour 

 the plums in their pudding, returning later to the tough 

 parts that are left, a rash and reprehensible course of 

 action of which their better-taught French cousins are 

 never guilty. When one comes to compare the two sets 

 of facts furnished by the two groups of species, the 



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