258 THE NATURALIST IN AUSTRALIA. 



presents the most singular resemblance to the head of a small snake, or of a lid-less, 

 goggle-eyed, Gecko Lizard. When seen under its customary natural conditions, at 

 the end of the cylindrical silken tunnel among the foliage that it weaves for its 

 habitation, this suggested simile is the more remarkably obvious. The useful purpose 

 of this mimetic adaptation, if such it be, to this spider as a protective element is 

 evident. Among the several popularly- quoted anomalies distinctive of the Australian 

 region, the circumstance that the spider is the victim of the, or, more correctly, of a 

 certain species of, fly has been already noted. The particular flies that thus turn the 

 table at the Antipodes upon the spider are solitary members of the Wasp or Hornet 

 tribe, genus Sphex, and its allies. These Hymenoptera construct clay nests of con- 

 spicuous size, a sheltered corner of the verandah or dwelling room of one's bungalow 

 being a favourite location. Before laying their eggs within the nest, however, provision 

 has to be made for the emerging grubs. This invariably consists of a holocaust of 

 spiders, which are stung, not to death, but simply to a state of coma. They are then 

 carried oft and hermetically walled up with the eggs in such a number that they 

 provide a continual feast of fresh meat for the Hornet larvae from the time they are 

 hatched until they enter upon the pupa stage. 



The fat soft-bodied Epeirse are special favourites with these Assassin Wasps, 

 and the species now under notice doubtless owes much of its immunity from wasp 

 persecution to the circumstance of the superficial resemblance of its body to a reptile's 

 head. The apparent pair of baleful phosphorescent eyes gleaming at the extremity 

 of the dimly-lighted recess occupied by the spider, would, it may be anticipated, 

 immediately deter its winged enemy from rashly penetrating within the portals of a 

 darksome chamber, where it would, itself seemingly, run the greater chance of being 

 devoured. 



The cocoon constructed by this Epeira for the enclosure and protection of 

 its eggs, represented in its natural size in Fig. 6, is a conspicuous object and 

 is fabricated with considerable ingenuity. Four or five of these egg cocoons are 

 commonly constructed by an individual spider, and are hung freely under a leafy shelter, 

 from an irregularly webby basement in the position indicated. They may vary among 

 one another in being of stouter or more slender relative dimensions, but at the same 

 time collectively agree in their essentially pyriform shape, and more particularly in 

 the exceedingly narrow tubular terminal orifice. This contracted contour of the exit 

 passage is no doubt a special provision against unwelcome intrusion of insect enemies 

 from without. 



