THE SPIDER RAVISHERS. 133 



Later on in the season we tried tlie same experiment. Taking 

 her spider from quinqnenotatus as she was dragging it to her 

 nest, we offered her a very lively striw in its place. She would 

 not notice it at all, and soon flew away. Half an hour later she 

 reappeared and seemed to be looking for a place to dig. As she 

 ran about on the ground we offered her another spider, dropping 

 it on the ground in front of her. This one behaved admirably, 

 drawing up its legs and keeping perfectly still, not moving even 

 when she felt of it and turned it over, but it was left without 

 any display of interest or emotion. 



One day we saw a qmnqtienotatus finish her nest and go after 

 her spider. She was absent for some time and when an ant 

 passed by dragging a paralyzed stride that had evidently been 

 stolen from some wasp we thought that the one we were watch- 

 ing had been robbed, and rescuing the spider, placed it in the 

 doorway of the nest. We had judged wrongly, for a moment 

 later our wasp came back bringing her own spider, and dropping 

 it near by, ran to look at her nest. She was disturbed at finding 

 the way blocked, and dug out a little earth to one side of the 

 strix. Then she flew to some holes in the gTound not far away 

 and dug a little, first in one and then in the other. After this 

 she took a look at her spider and then went back and dug a 

 little more at her own nest. Finally she seized the impeding 

 strix by a leg and dragged it out of the way and paid no further 

 attention to it, storing her own spider and then flying away, 

 although the one she had rejected might have saved a hunting 

 expedition . 



At another time we saw two wasps digging their nests two or 

 three feet apart. One of them finished before the other and 

 being unable to find her own spider (probably it had been car- 

 ried away by the ants), she seized that of her neighbor and bore 

 it away. The rightful owner saw, from a distance, what was 

 happening and ran to the rescue. A violent scrimmage en- 

 sued, the two wasps clinching and rolling over and over together. 

 The robber escaped and made off but was followed and caught 



