36 TENANTS OF AN OLD FARM. 



it 18 (luite dillbivnl whe'u I look closely. Maj^bc it is 

 the work of a young mother ? Ah ! I see by your smile 

 that I have blundered." 



"I was thinking of your last remark ; and, after all, 

 when I reflect, it is not so unnatural a conclusion. 

 There is Caudata, who, after having made half a dozen 

 cocoons, might be considered an 'experienced' mother. 

 But Argiope never makes but one. Her maternal love 

 and energy center upon that single work, and then she 

 dies. But upon the discovery itself I must congratu- 

 late you ; it is a noble find — the cocoon of the Banded 

 Argiope {Argiope fasciatu) — which I have never met but 

 once. And now, with a boast of clear-sightedness fresh 

 upon my tongue, I have fairly run over this rare speci- 

 men 1 Well, it is not the first time that I have had 

 illustration of the old adage : 



" ' A raw recruit, 



Perchance, may shoot 

 Great Bonapakte !' 



You have pi-oved jourself an apt recruit in the entomo- 

 logical field, and have done good service. You have 

 shown a true eye also, for this is not the egg-nest of 

 Biparia, but of one of her congeners, the Banded Ar- 

 giope (Fig. 10). Here she lies, or hangs rather, holdiug 

 even in dealh, to the frail hammock of a few lines spun 

 against the dry grasses. She is a beautiful creature, 

 covered with a glossy silver-white fur coat, with bands 

 of black and yellow across the abdomen, from which she 

 gets her name. How fortunate ! here is another snare, 

 spun in the weeds ut the edge of the run !" 



