THE SPIDER-HUNTERS 



field, where it was hidden. Again she resumed the hunt, 

 flying wildly now all over the field, running into wrong 

 holes and even kicking out earth as though she thought 

 of appropriating them, but soon passing on. Once 

 more she became anxious about the spider, and carry- 

 ing it up on to a plant suspended it there. Now she 

 seemed determined to take possession of every hole 

 that she went into, digging quite persistently in each, 

 but then giving it up. On one that seemed to be un- 

 occupied she labored at enlarging the entrance, until we 

 thought that she had mistaken it for her own, or at 

 least had determined to use it. At last, however, she 

 made up her mind that all further search was hopeless 

 and that she must start afresh ; and forty minutes from 

 the time that we saw her first she began a new nest close 

 to the spider, as though she would run no more risks. 

 This nest was successfully completed, and the spider 

 was stored away without further misadventure. 



The egg of quinquenotatus can be but lightly attached 

 to the spider, for only once, out of many attempts, did we 

 succeed in getting it out without displacing it. In this 

 case three days elapsed before it hatched. The larva ate 

 for a day or two, but then pined away and died. An- 

 other nest was opened on the tenth day after the egg 

 was laid, and in this the spider had been entirely eaten 

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