The Method of the Calicurgi 



more often than not to turn to the disad- 

 vantage of the Spider, whether Tarantula, 

 Epeira or another. The Calicurgus who 

 has just put the Spider on her back after a 

 brisk fight knows quite well that her pro- 

 strate foe is not dead. The latter, thinking 

 to protect itself, simulates the inertia of a 

 corpse; the assailant profits by this to de- 

 liver her most perilous blow, the stab in the 

 mouth. Were the fangs, each tipped with 

 its drop of poison, to open then; were they 

 to snap, to give a desperate bite, the Pom- 

 pilus would not dare to expose the tip of her 

 abdomen to their deadly scratch. The 

 shamming of death is exactly what enables 

 the huntress to succeed in her dangerous 

 operation. They say, O guileless Epeirae, 

 that the struggle for life has taught you to 

 adopt this inert attitude for purposes of de- 

 fence. Well, the struggle for life was a 

 very bad counsellor. Trust rather to com- 

 mon sense and learn, by degrees, at your 

 own cost, that to hit back, above all if you 

 can do so promptly, is still the best way to 

 intimidate the enemy.^ 



The remainder of my observations on 

 these insects under glass is little more than 



1 Fabre does not believe in the actual shamming of 

 death by animals. Cf. The Gloiu-iuorm and Other 



341 



