THE SPIDER-HUNTERS 



up the place and found nothing. Slowly and carefully 

 we enlarged our circle. We went down deeper until 

 the opening was large enough to hold a thousand spiders, 

 — still nothing. Then we tried another plan. Gathering 

 all the earth that we had taken out, we sifted it through 

 our hands — in vain. At last we acknowledged our- 

 selves beaten, and trudged home empty-handed. 



Our pride was destined to be still further humbled. 

 Three times within that same week we saw the tornado 

 wasp bury her spider, and three times we failed, just as 

 incredibly, to find it. On the last of these occasions we 

 did not let her fill the nest, attempting to follow the 

 tunnel and get out the spider as soon as the egg was 

 laid, but the loose, unstable character of the soil de- 

 feated us. 



Our fifth example, however, dug her nest, not among 

 the beans but lower down in the potato field, where the 

 ground was firmer; and here we made our first success- 

 ful excavation, — successful only up to a certain point, 

 since in getting out the spider we dislodged the egg, 

 and although it was at once replaced it never developed. 

 The spider was placed three inches below the surface, 

 but we could not trace the tunnel. At our next oppor- 

 tunity, wishing to make good this failure, we placed a 

 blade of grass in the opening just after the wasp began 



20I 



