THE MUD-DA UBERS. 181 



"We mig-lit add to these notes but it is not necessary as they 

 are fair samples of the hundreds of cells that we have exam- 

 ined. The number stored is as variable as the species. Wa 

 have found as few as four in a closed nest, and Hentz once 

 counted forty. They pack in as many as the nest will hold, 

 using the head to push them as close together as possible, the 

 legs of the spiders being bent in all directions without regard 

 to either their comfort or their life. They order their food by 

 the pound rather than by the dozen, as it is said very thrifty 

 people do with their eggs. 



The method of capture is the most interesting as well as the 

 most important part of the life history of the solitary wasps. 

 One can scarcely overestimate the value of the observations of 

 M. Fabre in this field and the longer we study his experiments 

 the greater becomes our admiration of him and of his work. In 

 one of his chapters, while estimating the value of his own 

 achievements in different lines, he says that while the zoologist 

 will prefer one part of his work and the embryologist another, 

 that the philosopher who is concerned with the nature of in- 

 stinct will give the palm to his study of the predatory wasps. 

 He then goes on to say: "I am with these last. Without hesi- 

 tation I would abandon all the rest of my entomological bag- 

 gage for this work, which, moreover, was the earliest in date 

 and which has for me the dearest associations." 



During the last three years we have tried many ways of dis- 

 covering the manner in which the Pelopaei sting their prey. 

 One plan after another has been thought out, tried and aban- 

 doned as useless. The quality of patience is worth cultivating 

 and we have found that unless one is possessed of a large stock of 

 that virtue together with a firm belief in Dar^vin's sentiment, 

 "it is dogged as does it," he had better abandon the study of 

 the habits of animals. 



Having failed entirely in our experimental efforts to discover 

 the method of Pelopaeus we resolved to follow them in the 

 field. We jealously guarded the spiders that spun their webs 

 ■on our cottage walls, in the hope that their enemies would 



