158 THE LIFE AND LOVE OF THE INSECT 



scarcity of the Calicurgus. To obtain the Tarantula is 

 easy enough : the part of the neighbouring upland as yet 

 untilled by the vine-planters supplies me with as many 

 as I need. To capture the Calicurgus is a different story. 

 I count upon her so little that I consider a special 

 search quite useless. To look for one would, perhaps, 

 be the very way not to find one. Let us leave it to 

 chance to decide whether I shall have one or not. 



I have one. I caught her unexpectedly on the jflowers. 

 The next day, I lay in a stock of half-a-dozen Tarantulas. 

 Perhaps I shall be able to use them one after the other, 

 in repeated duels. On my return from my expedition 

 in search of Lycosae, chance smiles upon me again and 

 gratifies my desires to the full. A second Calicurgus 

 presents herself before my net : she is dragging her heavy, 

 paralyzed Arachnid by the leg, in the dust of the high- 

 road. I set great store by my find : there is an urgency 

 about laying the egg ; and I believe that the mother will 

 accept an exchange without much hesitation. 



So behold my two captives, each under a glass bell 

 with her Tarantula. I am all eyes. What a drama I 

 may expect, in a moment ! I wait, anxiously. . . . But 

 . . . but. . . what is this ? Which of the two is the at- 

 tacker ? Which of the two the attacked ? The char- 

 acters seem inverted. The Calicurgus, unfit for climbing 

 up the smooth walls of the bell, strides along the outer 

 circumference of the arena. With proud, swift gait and 

 quivering wings and antennae, she comes and goes. She 

 soon sets eyes upon the Lycosa, marches up to her with- 

 out the least sign of fear, turns around her and seems 

 about to seize one of her legs. But, at that moment, the 

 Tarantula rises almost perpendicularly, using her four 

 hind-legs to stand upon and her four front-legs erect. 



