THE SPIDER-HUNTERS 



against the tip of her sting. The little creature finally 

 escaped, seeming none the worse for the rough han- 

 dling to which it had been subjected, while the wasp, 

 still trembhng with excitement, grasped her spider and 

 rushed off to a distance of several feet, carrying it up 

 on a weed and depositing it there. The labor of ex- 

 cavation was then resumed, and after a half-hour's 

 work the nest was completed to her satisfaction. 



Coming up head first, she flattened herself out on 

 the ground, and sprawhng thus, dragged herself all 

 around it. The spider was now brought to the nest, 

 being left once on the way while she ran in and out again, 

 and was taken in after a new and original fashion. 

 Backing in herself, she seized it by the tip of the abdo- 

 men and dragged it down without any trouble, since 

 the legs were gently pushed up over the head and made 

 no resistance. 



In two minutes she emerged from the opening, and 

 standing on the four posterior legs, with her abdomen 

 hanging down into the hole, scratched the earth back- 

 ward with the front legs and mandibles. As it fell in 

 she pushed it down with the abdomen, and as the hole 

 filled she raised herself higher and higher on her legs, 

 still using the tip of the abdomen to work the material 

 into place. 



239 



