The Pompili 



of the head, the Drone-fly is dead in a mo- 

 ment; and the Segestria carries him into her 

 lair. 



Thanks to this method and these hunting- 

 appHances — an ambush at the bottom of a 

 silken whirlpool, radiating snares, a hfe-line 

 which holds her from behind and allows her 

 to take a sudden rush without risking a fall 

 — the Segestria is able to catch game less 

 inoffensive than the Drone-fly. A Com- 

 mon Wasp, they tell me, does not daunt her. 

 Though I have not tested this, I readily be- 

 lieve it, for I well know the Spider's bold- 

 ness. 



This boldness is reinforced by the activity 

 of the venom. It is enough to have seen the 

 Segestria capture some large Fly to be con- 

 vinced of the overwhelming effect of her 

 fangs upon the insects bitten in the neck. 

 The death of the Drone-fly, entangled in the 

 silken funnel, is reproduced by the sudden 

 death of the Bumble-bee on entering the 

 Tarantula's burrow. We know the effect of 

 the poison on man, thanks to Antoine Du- 

 ges' ^ investigations. Let us listen to the 

 brave experimenter : 



1 Antoine Louis Duges (1797-1838), a French physi- 

 cian and physiologist, author of a Traite de physiologie 

 comparee de I'homme et des animaux and other scientific 

 works. — Translator's Note. 



13 



