THE SPIDER-HUNTERS 



is unusually poor, owing apparently to her intense 

 nervousness and excitability, but some 

 individuals are better endov^^ed than 

 others in this respect. 



On a bright morning in the middle 

 of August we stationed ourselves by the 

 smoke-house at eight o'clock, and half 

 an hour later an Agenia began to bring 

 lumps of earth, working out of sight nest of agenia 



1 , , . r.1 1 . BOMBYCINA 



under the door frame. She kept at it 

 steadily, spending three or four minutes in getting a 

 load and one or two in placing it. At twelve o'clock, 

 her nest being ready, she flew away to hunt 

 for a spider. So long as a wasp comes 

 and goes at frequent intervals time slips 

 away rapidly, but to keep one's attention 

 unflagging through hours of watching is 

 weariness to the flesh. We saw no more 

 of our Agenia until three, when she ap- 

 peared, half walking, half flying through 

 the grass, going forward. Her spider was 

 held by the spinnerets, and being larger of agenia bom- 

 than she was it trailed behind her. On ^^'^^^^ 

 reaching the wall she began to cHmb ; but the weight of 

 the spider made her fall again and again, and forty 



245 



LYCOSA KOCHII, 

 FOUND IN NEST 



