THE SPIDER-HUNTERS 



body, and now, looking closely, we saw that two of them 

 had been completely cut off. While occupied in this way 

 the wasp was evidently intensely excited. She lay on 

 one side with the abdomen bent under, turning the 

 spider over and over as she worked. After a time she 

 carried it onward to the potato-field, where the plants 

 afforded some shelter, and placing it upon a leaf, well 

 above the ground, began to dig near by. She worked 

 almost entirely with her mandibles, lying sometimes on 

 her side and sometimes on her back as she cut away 

 the earth, which was pushed out with the end of her 

 abdomen. When she had worked for ten minutes and 

 had gone in the length of her body, she picked up the 

 spider and rapidly made off with it, several times rising 

 on her wings and flying backward for a few inches. A 

 little further along she again deposited it on a leaf and 

 began to dig in a fresh place. At the end of twenty min- 

 utes the nest was ready, but in bringing the spider she 

 missed her direction and carried it to one side. Drop- 

 ping it on the ground, she began to hunt about for her 

 hole, but was distracted with excitement and ran so 

 far afield that we feared she would never find it. At 

 last, however, she came to the place, ran in for a mo- 

 ment, brought the spider nearer, dropped it and ran 

 to the nest once more, caught it up again, and tried to 

 217 



