70 SOCIAL LIFE IN THE INSECT WORLD 



the living trap which does not wait for the victim, but goes 

 in search of it. The snare is embellished with a certain 

 amount of ornamentation. On the inner face the base 

 of the haunch is decorated with a pretty black spot 

 relieved by smaller spots of white, and a few rows of fine 

 pearly spots complete the ornamentation. 



The thigh, still longer, like a flattened spindle, carries 

 on the forward half of the lower face a double row of 

 steely spines. The innermost row contains a dozen, 

 alternately long and black and short and green. This 

 alternation of unequal lengths makes the weapon more 

 effectual for holding. The outer row is simpler, having 

 only four teeth. Finally, three needle-like spikes, the 

 longest of all, rise behind the double series of spikes. In 

 short, the thigh is a saw with two parallel edges, 

 separated by a groove in which the foreleg lies when 

 folded. 



The foreleg, which is attached to the thigh by a very 

 flexible atticulation, is also a double-edged saw, but the 

 teeth are smaller, more numerous, and closer than those 

 of the thigh. It terminates in a strong hook, the point of 

 which is as sharp as the finest needle : a hook which 

 is fluted underneath and has a double blade like a 

 pruning-knife. 



A weapon admirably adapted for piercing and tearing, 

 this hook has sometimes left me with visible remembran- 

 ces. Caught in turn by the creature which I had just 

 captured, and not having both hands free, I have often 

 been obliged to get a second person to free me from my 

 tenacious captive ! To free oneself by violence without 

 disengaging the firmly implanted talons would result in 

 lacerations such as the thorns of a rosebush will produce 



