ALA JU EL A AND THE VOLCANO POA'S 337 



mained on the outside of the "paper" covering. A few oc- 

 casionally dropped on the top of A.'s open umbrella but did 

 not attempt to sting. One wasp was seen flying about with 

 something white hanging from its tail. On catching it, we 

 found that the white thing was ten millimeters of its alimen- 

 tary canal (i. e., intestine and hind end of its stomach), its 

 poison sac and sting. The abdomen showed no special 

 laceration; presumably these viscera had been pulled out as a 

 consequence of the insect's having stung something, and the 

 sting being rather firmly embedded held long enough to pull 

 out the organs when the wasp tried to fly off. 



Farther on, A. found a leaf on which was resting a young 

 spider {Tinus) with cross-barred legs, each leg extended in a 

 different direction. The cross-barring gave the effect of 

 radii of a web beaded with moisture and made the spider ap- 

 pear smaller than it really was and as if resting upon a web. 

 On a piiiuela was another species of spider (either Acrosoma 

 i2-spinosa or Argiope argentata) having the abdomen widest 

 at its spiny hind end. It weaves a web with fine radii and 

 concentric threads and four heavy zigzag bands, and then 

 takes up its position in the center of the web, placing its 

 eight legs in pairs so that two are in the same line as each of 

 the four zigzag bands, which are nearly at right angles to 

 each other. The web is stretched between two leaves of the 

 piiiuela, the spines of the plant affording the spider an effi- 

 cient protection against the hand or net of the collector. 



Mr. Clark was manager not only of the beneficio but of a 

 finca called "El Cerro" some eight miles away near Saban- 

 illa, and much higher among the hills. On September 7, 

 P. accompanied Mr. Clark on one of his periodical visits 

 of Inspection. As we turned a corner of the road, Mr. Clark 

 pointed out the house of the president of the board of road 

 commissioners of the district, with a deep mud hole in the 

 road in front, saying that his own remonstrances to the 



