THE SPIDER BA VIS HERS. 163 



ralysis at once ensued althougli tlie legs twitched and respond- 

 ed irregularly to stimulation. Fifteen minutes later the first, 

 third, and fourth legs on the right ^ide kept quivering as the 

 spider lay on her back. At the end of an hour she turned over, 

 after some struggling, and took two or three staggering steps. 

 When picked up for examination she bit the finger so that the 

 fang penetrated the skin, and as the hand was raised she held 

 on so that she was lifted from her feet. She regained her 

 strength gradually and by ten o'clock of the same evening she 

 moved about, but as the legs on the two sides did not act to- 

 gether she went sideways instead of straight ahead. There was 

 but little change from this condition until the second Decem- 

 ber when the second leg was drawn up to the body and never 

 moved again. On the fourth she was less active, growing 

 weaker and weaker through the day, and on the afternoon of 

 the fifth she died. She had lived for six days with only par- 

 tial paralysis after being wounded in ihe ganglion by an instru- 

 ment six or seven times as thick as the sting of a wasp. Dur- 

 ing this time she had been able to turn over, to run when 

 touched and to bite violently. One drop of wasp-poison seems 

 to have more potency in producing paralysis than any ordinary 

 wound of the nervous system. 



Our second example of the victim of scelestus was, when 

 taken from the nest, perfectly limp and motionless, giving no 

 response to stimulation. Within twenty-four hours the effect 

 of the poison had largely passed off, and by the third day the 

 spider had recovered her normal health and was released. 



This spider and the one taken by our other scelestus, be- 

 longed to the same species. 



When we take the rapid recovery of the spiders into consider- 

 ation we see that the comparatively small size of the nest is 

 an important factor in the drama. The prey is buried alive in 

 the fullest sense of the term but is wedged in so tightly that 

 not the slightest movement is possible, and thus the egg is pro- 

 tected. 



