1 8 The Life of a Spider 



depth with a coat of silk, which prevents earth- 

 slips and facilitates scaling when a prompt exit 

 is required. 



Baglivi, in his unsophisticated Latin, teaches 

 us how to catch the Tarantula. I became his 

 rusticus insidiator ; I waved a spikelet at the 

 entrance of the burrow to imitate the humming 

 of a Bee and attract the attention of the Lycosa, 

 who rushes out, thinking that she is capturing 

 a prey. This method did not succeed with 

 me. The Spider, it is true, leaves her remote 

 apartments and comes a little way up the 

 vertical tube to enquire into the sounds at her 

 door ; but the wily animal soon scents a trap ; 

 it remains motionless at mid-height and, at 

 the least alarm, goes down again to the branch 

 gallery, where it is invisible. 



Leon Dufour's appears to me a better method 

 if it were only practicable in the conditions 

 wherein I find myself. To drive a knife quickly 

 into the ground, across the burrow, so as to 

 cut off the Tarantula's retreat when she is 

 attracted by the spikelet and standing on the 

 upper floor, would be a manoeuvre certain of 

 success, if the soil were favourable. Unfor- 



