828 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the legs, which were short and stout. The nest was so firmly 

 made that, although underground, it was easily lifted out of its 

 place without injury. Indeed, it was no mere silk-lined hole in 

 the ground ; it was a regularly built house of clay packed into a 

 tight wall, and hung with curtain of silk. At the bottom of this 

 model residence was a small opening for a waste-pipe, so that no 

 rain should drown the builder within her own doors. 



The tarantula of the Pacific slope is of note particularly on 

 account of her enemy, the tarantula hawk, or tarantula-killer. 

 The spider is of large size and no coward. If a stick is poked at 

 her, she does not run ; on the contrary, she starts up that stick 

 so promptly that no one less nimble will stay to interview her. 

 The wasp that makes her life a burden is nearly two inches long, 

 with brilliant blue body and orange wings. Like the more hum- 

 ble resident of New Jersey, her sting produces paralysis, and, when 

 she has prepared the burrow in which to deposit the hopes of her 

 family, she invariably starts out after a tarantula to furnish a 

 supply of food for the egg she buries with it. Spiders have been 

 found in this remarkable half-dead state several years after they 

 were buried, still limber and apparently healthy. 



Dr Horn, of Philadelphia, describes particularly this strange 

 contest with the wasp. The insect flies round and round in grad- 

 ually decreasing circles, while the spider stands half erect on her 

 hind legs. Seizing the first favorable chance, the wasp dashes 

 in and delivers a sting, instantly flying away and resuming the 

 circle flight, till she sees another opportunity to strike. Two or 

 three touches are usually enough to subdue the most savage taran- 

 tula. But the trouble is often not over for the plucky wasp even 

 then. The battle may be without sound, but it is not without 

 scent. The use of her sting is accompanied by an odor which is 

 quickly recognized by any other wasp-mother in search of a 

 spider. If one chances to strike it, she follows it up on the instant, 

 and, if the spider is not underground, makes a fight for it. So 

 furious is the battle that sometimes both of the combatants are 

 killed. 



In the West Indies the trap-door spider is appreciated and 

 respected as a useful servant for its work in killing cockroaches, 

 which, unless checked, would destroy their houses. It is bought, 

 carried to the house, and cherished as we cherish a cat. 



Quite the most interesting of this family is the second dis- 

 covery of Mrs. Treat, which she called at first Tarantula turricula, 

 or turret-building tarantula. Should one in his walks chance to 

 notice a tiny five-sided tower rising out of the ground, elegantly 

 made, of sticks crossed regularly at the corners in log-cabin style, 

 and sometimes decorated with bits of moss, he would never guess 

 that a spider was the architect. Yet such is the work of Mrs. 



