ANT COMMUNITIES 



oval rug that overlay her central seat. But instantly 

 the bee struck the web her whole being was transformed. 

 She dropped her lunch-bag. Her reposeful attitude was 

 changed into one of eager animation and intense ferocity. 

 Every spine and bristle upon her legs, her body armature, 

 seemed to be erect, and her fangs were open. With a 

 rush, like the vault of a cat upon a sparrow, she charged 

 over her web, and, seizing the bee with her fore paws, 

 shot forth upon it from her expanded spinnerets a band 

 of silk. All the while revolving the insect between her 

 swiftly moving fore feet, she soon had it swathed as 

 closely as a mummy. 



This done, her outward seeming of tense energy re- 

 laxed, and having suspended her empouched captive 

 to a twisted strand of her broken snare, she left it hang- 

 ing there, like a cured ham to the rafters of an old- 

 fashioned smoke-house, and quietly resumed her inter- 

 rupted luncheon on the fly. In all this, Argiope was 

 without speech; yet her varying emotions were plainly 

 and, one may conclude, not incorrectly, read by the 

 observer from her motions. As for the bee, its last 

 audible utterance was a low and broken hum that sound- 

 ed like the expiring wail of apian despair. 



Now entered upon this tragic scene of animated nature, 

 man the philanthropist, his pity crossed, let it be con- 

 fessed, with a strain of curiosity to know the condition 

 of the prisoner. "Poor bee/ 3 quoth the observer, 

 "this great and greedy spicier has quite enough food 

 without you!" With a pair of pocket-scissors an open- 

 ing was made into the swathing-sac. Not without pro- 

 test from Argiope, however, who, feeling these move- 

 ments through the delicately strung meshes of her web, 

 feared that her prey was escaping, and rushed upon it. 



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