8 The Life of a Spider 



projecting point to settle on. Who shall tell 

 us all the wiles employed by this clever and 

 daring huntress ? 



' Let us now say something about my rather 

 diverting Tarantula-hunts. The best season 

 for them is the months of May and June. The 

 first time that I lighted on this Spider's 

 burrows and discovered that they were inhabited 

 by seeing her come to a point on the first floor 

 of her dwelling — the elbow which I have men- 

 tioned — I thought that I must attack her by 

 main force and pursue her relentlessly in order 

 to capture her ; I spent whole hours in opening 

 up the trench with a knife a foot long by two 

 inches wide, without meeting the Tarantula. 

 I renewed the operation in other burrows, 

 always with the same want of success ; I really 

 wanted a pickaxe to achieve my object, but I 

 was too far from any kind of house. I was 

 obUged to change my plan of attack and I 

 resorted to craft. Necessity, they say, is the 

 mother of invention. 



*It occurred to me to take a stalk, topped 

 with its spikelet, by way of a bait, and to rub 

 and move it gently at the orifice of the burrow. 



