THE SPIDER HA VISHERS. 143- 



batclied at tlie end of forty-nine hours, but the larva died on the 

 following day, so that we have no record of this stage of its ex- 

 istence. 



Of eight spiders taken from this wasp, two were dead and 

 the others were badly paralyzed, responding only to careful 

 stimulation. One of these improved after a time but the gain 

 was not permanent as it died on the ninth day. 



One nest was made in a large lump of earth and ran in hor- 

 izontally; but all the others that we saw, went dowm almost 

 vertically. 



Of ten spiders that we saw in the possession of fuscipennis, 

 nine belonged to a single species of the genus Tliomisus. The 

 tenth was a very small, immature, male Lycosid, and had been 

 captured by a tiny wasp of rather less than half the ordinary 

 size. 



The most interesting thing about fuscipennis is her habit of 

 biting the legs of her victims. The instinct is very irregularly 

 developed since four out of ten spidei-s had not lost any legs, 

 while the others had been deprived of one or two. No one who 

 has watched the wasp can. doubt that the habit is related to the 

 fact that she makes a very small nest in comparison to the size 

 of her prey. The spider never went in easily, always requiring 

 to be shifted and turned and tugged at. There was an especial 

 tendency to bite at the legs at this point of time, when the wasp, 

 standing within the tunnel, was trying to drag the spider down. 

 In one instance she managed to get it past the entrance, but it 

 stuck in the gallery, and after working at it in that position for 

 a time she brought it out, subjected the legs to a severe squeez- 

 ing, and then tried again. It was still a very bad fit, but by 

 turning it about and pulling at it she succeeded in getting it 

 in. It may be that the object of biting the legs is not to re- 

 move them but to render them limber so that they will bend 

 easily. Whatever the process may be it is carried on at inter- 

 vals, from the time the spider is captured. As she carries it, 

 the wasp pauses again and again, now on bare ground, and now 

 in a sheltered place or on some plant to renew her efforts at' 



