SPIDERS AND THEIR RELATIVES 93 



seven inches. They Hve in natural holes in trees 

 and in the ground, and these nests they line with 

 a web as many spiders do. Sometimes they ride 

 north on the ships in bunches of bananas, where 

 they are neither happy nor welcome. 



One day I had climbed my spiked tree and was 

 working there when Santiago called to me from 

 the ground to come down in a hurry. It was not 

 very easy to get up speed when I was so well 

 loaded with expensive apparatus, but I let myself 

 down as fast as possible. There I found Santiago 

 excitedly holding down a big wasp while a tired- 

 looking tarantula lay near by. Santiago had been 

 hunting around at random for animals when he 

 spied this tarantula climbing up on a slanting 

 stick until it reached the tip a foot or so above the 

 ground. There it settled down quietly, probably 

 waiting for some animal which it could catch and 

 eat to come along. It gets its name of bird- 

 eating spider from its ability to catch and kill 

 small birds once in a while. 



While it waited, another hunter came along. 

 This was a large wasp, a really monster wasp an 

 inch and a quarter long. The wasp swooped on 

 the tarantula, seized it, and stung it and was 

 dragging it off when Santiago interfered. 



The wasp, commonly called tarantula hawk, 

 was dead and there was nothing to do but pickle 

 it. The tarantula was still alive, but paralyzed 

 from the wasp's sting until it could not move. 



