More Hunting Wasps 



the Pompilus makes ready to drag her prey 

 elsewhere. It is then that I take charge 

 of it. 



What strikes me more than anything else 

 is the absolute inertia of the fangs, which I 

 tickle with a straw without succeeding in 

 rousing them from their torpor. The palpi, 

 on the other hand, their immediate neigh- 

 bours, wave at the least touch. The Epeira 

 is placed in safety, in a flask, and undergoes 

 a fresh examination a week later. Irri- 

 tability has in part returned. Under the 

 stimulus of a straw, I see her legs move a 

 little, especially the lower joints, the tibiae 

 and tarsi. The palpi are even more irritable 

 and mobile. These different movements, 

 however, are lacking in vigour and coordina- 

 tion; and the Spider cannot employ them to 

 turn over, much less to escape. As for the 

 poison-fangs, I stimulate them in vain: I 

 cannot get them to open or even to stir. 

 They are therefore profoundly paralysed 

 and in a special manner. The peculiar in- 

 sistence of the sting when the mouth was 

 stabbed told me as much in the beginning. 



At the end of September, almost a month 



after the operation, the Epeira is in the same 



condition, neither dead nor alive: the palpi 



still quiver when touched with a straw, but 



338 



