The Pelopaeus' Victuals 



fill it to the brim and are stacked in the 

 order of acquisition, with the Spiders earliest 

 in date at the bottom and the more recent 

 on the surface. No subsidence, which would 

 lead to a mixture of fresh game and high, 

 is possible, because of the game's long legs, 

 which in most cases scrape against the walls 

 of the cell with their stiff hairs. The larva, 

 at the bottom of the heap and, moreover, in- 

 tent upon the morsel attacked, thus proceeds 

 from the oldest to the less old and always 

 finds in front of its teeth, until the end of the 

 meal, victuals that have not had time to spoil 

 by decomposition. 



The egg is laid indifferently upon a large 

 joint or a small, according to the chances 

 of the first capture. It is white, cylindrical, 

 slightly curved and measures three milli- 

 metres in length, with a diameter of rather 

 less than one millimetre. 1 The spot that 

 receives it on the Spider's body varies 

 hardly at all; it is at the beginning of the 

 abdomen, towards the side. The new-born 

 larva, as is usual with the Hunting Wasps, 

 takes its first bite at the point where the 

 pole of the egg containing the head was 

 fixed. Thus, for its first mouthfuls, it has 

 the juiciest and tenderest part, the Spider's 



1 .177 by .039 inch. — Translator's Note. 

 IOI 



