BLUE HUNTRESS 429 



To gain access to her nest, she must enter the out-house 

 through a slatted window, the lowest part of which is three 

 feet from the ground. Once she missed the opening and 

 tumbled with the spider headlong to earth. She was undis- 

 maj^ed by the fall, never once relinquishing her hold, but I 

 was struck by the difficulty she experienced in starting once 

 more for the opening. It required the combined strength 

 of legs and wings to drag the creature up the perpendicular 

 wall of the building to the slats of the window. 



Once within, the spider is dragged to the waiting cell, 

 where it is left with head facing the entrance. A yellowish 

 white egg, projectile shape, is now deposited upon the side 

 of its abdomen. This accomplished the wasp returns to the 

 outside of the nest. Now comes a thorough personal clean- 

 up before continuing. The fore legs are dra\^^l through her 

 mouth and rubbed briskly over her head and antennae. The 

 hind legs are used in cleaning the wings and abdomen and 

 during the process the wasp stands almost upon her head. 

 In a few minutes she is clean and bright. Doubtless the 

 scrubbing refreshes her, as a bath puts new vigor into a tired 

 man who has worked faithfully for his family and returned 

 home with the sweat of labor still upon him. 



But her work is not over with the storing of the spider. 

 She has yet to close the cell with a seal that cannot be easily 

 broken. The job must be done with care, and quickly. A 

 flaw, ever so tiny in the masonry may jeopardize the helpless 

 inmates. Wasplets are tender morsels, fine fare for many 

 a parasite. The huntress must guard the results of her la- 

 bor. I watched this interesting process which required an 

 hour from the time the spider was dragged into the cell. It 

 was only a tiny doorway, ten millimeters in diameter, yet 

 during those sixty minutes, thirty loads of clay were brought 

 to the nest and packed with minute care into the entrance. 

 The tiny trowel and scraper, the tamper and smoother, all 

 combined in the tip of her energetic little body must have 

 been worn indeed when the task was finished. But there was 



