Marvels of Insect Life, 



Mexican Spider-Wasp. 



This plucky little Insect adopts the plan of making 

 a frontal attack on the spider as she sits on guard 

 in the centre of her web. The spider is so surprised 

 by the impudence of this attack that she at once 

 drops to the ground ; but the wasp is there almost 

 as quickly as the spider, which is stung before it has 

 recovered from its astonishment. 



locality had brought her to the exact spot where 

 she had left her prey, it was clear that the sense 

 of vision came into play, for when Fabre placed the 

 spider in a slight depression of the ground and 

 covered it with a leaf, the wasp could not find it. 

 Although the species of Pompilus are not all 

 miners — for some of them prefer to seek a hole 

 that has been made by some other Insect — yet 

 they are all spider-hunters ; and some of them 

 secure their prey, as stated, before they have 

 prepared a nest. They take the precaution to 

 render the spider helpless by stinging it, and then 

 hang the -paralyzed body in the forking of some 

 plant until they have excavated a mine, or found 

 some ready-made retreat that is suitable for their 

 purpose. They mine with such energy that the 

 fine earth flies out of the hole like a fountain, so rapid are the movements 

 of their limbs in digging. The Peckhams tried several experiments in the 

 way of substituting healthy spiders for those that had been stung, whilst 

 Pompilus was digging her nest ; but the attempt never succeeded — the wasp 

 always knew that some trick had been played upon her, and always refused to 

 be a party to the exchange. Even when a spider that had been stolen by them from 

 one Pompilus was dropped near the mouth of another Pompilus' nest, her interest 

 in it extended only as far as a tactile examination. She refused to accept it, though 

 this would probably have saved her from a tedious hunt for a fresh specimen. 



The mining of one of these spider-wasps ^ has been described by these 

 observers : — " She was working away as furiously as though she had studied the 

 poets and knew her carpe diem by heart. Faster and faster went the slender little 

 legs ; higher and higher rose the jet of dust above her. Then suddenly there was 



a pause. The burrower had met with some 

 obstacle. A moment more and she came backing 

 out of the hole, her feet slipping on its crumbling 

 edges. In her mandibles she carried a pebble, 

 which was taken to a distance of four or five 

 inches. Then, moving quickly, she swept away 

 the dust that had accumulated near the mouth of 

 the nest, re-entered the hole, and resumed the 

 labour of excavation. We thought that the rate 

 at which she worked was too violent to be kept 

 up very long ; and sure enough, before ten minutes 

 had passed the nest was deep enough for her 

 purposes. . . . The wasp came out, circled round 

 the spot three or four times, and then flew off like 

 a hurricane. Never have we seen a creature so 

 fiery, tempestuous, cyclonic. Before we knew her 



Pom]iilus quinqucnotatus. 



The Tornado-Wasp. 



One of the smaller wasps that wage war entirely 

 upon spiders as the material for stocking their 

 nursery-larders. So energetic is she in her mining 

 operations that an American naturalist has given 

 her the name of tornado-wasp. See also page 93. 



