The Black-Bellied Tarantula 



ficient proof. As soon as that shrill buzzing, 

 which I called the death-song, ceases, in vain 

 I hasten to insert my forceps: I always bring 

 out the insect dead, with slack proboscis and 

 limp legs. Scarce a few quivers of those legs 

 tell me that it is a quite recent corpse. The 

 Bumble-bee's death is instantaneous. Each 

 time that I take a fresh victim from the ter- 

 rible slaughter-house, my surprise is renewed 

 at the sight of its sudden immobility. 



Nevertheless, both animals have very 

 nearly the same strength; for I choose my 

 Bumble-bees from among the largest (Bom- 

 bus hortorum and B. terrestris). Their 

 weapons are almost equal: the Bee's dart 

 can bear comparison with the Spider's fangs; 

 the sting of the first seems to me as formid- 

 able as the bite of the second. How comes 

 it that the Tarantula always has the upper 

 hand and this moreover in a very short con- 

 flict, whence she emerges unscathed? There 

 must certainly be some cunning strategy on 

 her part. Subtle though her poison may be, 

 I cannot believe that its mere injection, at 

 any point whatever of the victim, is enough 

 to produce so prompt a catastrophe. The 

 ill-famed rattle-snake does not kill so quickly, 



61 



