32 INSECT ARTIZANS AND THEIR WORK 



the hole, took up the spider and dragged it in after 

 it." 



All the species of Pompilus are not to be reckoned 

 among miners, for some of them look about for a 

 hole that has been mined by some other insect. 

 They are all spider-hunters, and some of them 

 secure their prey before they have prepared a 

 nest. They take the precaution to sting their 

 spider and then hang the helpless body in the forking 

 of some plant until they have excavated their 

 mine, which they do with such speed that the fine 

 earth flies out of the hole like a fountain, so rapid 

 are the movements of their limbs in digging. The 

 Peckhams tried several experiments of substituting 

 healthy spiders for those that had been stung, 

 whilst Pompilus was digging her nest ; but the 

 attempt never succeeded — the wasp always knew 

 that some trick had been played upon her, and 

 always refused to be a party to the exchange. Even 

 when a spider that had been stolen by them from 

 one Pompilus was dropped near the mouth of 

 another Pompilus' nest, her interest in it extended 

 only as far as a tactile examination. She refused to 

 accept it, though this would probably have saved 

 her from a tedious hunt for a fresh specimen. 



The mining of one of these — Pompilus quinqueno- 

 tatus — has been described by these observers : " She 

 was working away as furiously as though she had 

 studied the poets and knew her carpe diem by heart. 

 Faster and faster went the slender little legs ; 

 higher and higher rose the jet of dust above her. 



