More Hunting Wasps 



den death? No, the Pompilus does not en- 

 ter the Spider's parlour, that is obvious. 

 Does she surprise the Spider outside her 

 fortress? But the Lycosa is a stay-at-home 

 animal; I do not see her straying abroad 

 during the summer. Later, in the autumn, 

 when the Pompili have disappeared, she 

 wanders about; turning gipsy, she takes the 

 open air with her numerous family, which she 

 carries on her back. Apart from these ma- 

 ternal strolls, she does not appear to me to 

 leave her castle; and the Pompilus, I should 

 think, has no great chance of meeting her 

 outside. The problem, we perceive, is be- 

 coming complicated; the huntress cannot 

 make her way into the burrow, where she 

 would risk sudden death; and the Spider's 

 sedentary habits make an encounter outside 

 the burrow improbable. Here is a riddle 

 which would be interesting to decipher. Let 

 us endeavour to do so by observing other 

 Spider-hunters; analogy will enable us to 

 draw a conclusion. 



I have often watched Pompili of every 

 species on their hunting-expeditions, but I 

 have never surprised them entering the 

 Spider's lodging when the latter was at 

 home. Whether this lodging be a funnel 

 plunging its neck into a hole in some wall, 

 6 



