More Hunting Wasps 



my point. By joining, with silken strands, 

 the three folioles which form the leaf of 

 Virgil's cytisus, a Spider has built herself a 

 green arbour, a horizontal sheath, open at 

 either end. A questing Pompilus comes 

 upon the scene, finds the game to her lik- 

 ing and pops in her head at the entrance of 

 the cell. The Spider immediately retreats 

 to the other end. The huntress goes round 

 the Spider's dwelling and reappears at the 

 other door. Again the Spider retreats, re- 

 turning to the first entrance. The Wasp 

 also returns to it, but always by the outside. 

 Scarcely has she done so, when the Spider 

 rushes for the opposite opening; and so on 

 for fully a quarter of an hour, both of them 

 coming and going from one end of the cylin- 

 der to the other, the Spider inside and the 

 Pompilus outside. 



The quarry was a valuable one, it seems, 

 since the Wasp persisted for a long time in 

 her attempts, which were invariably de- 

 feated; however, the huntress had to aban- 

 don them, baffled by this perpetual running 

 to and fro. The Pompilus made off; and 

 the Spider, once more on the watch, pa- 

 tiently awaited the heedless Midges. What 

 should the Wasp have done to capture this 

 much-coveted game? She should have en- 



10 



