The Black-Bellied Tarantula 23 



is a hand-to-hand one. The Tarantula has no 

 secondary means of defence, no cord to bind 

 her victim, no trap to subdue her. When the 

 Epeira, or Garden Spider, sees an insect en- 

 tangled in her great upright web, she hastens up 

 and covers the captive with corded meshes and 

 silk ribbons by the armful, making all resistance 

 impossible. When the prey is solidly bound, a 

 prick is carefully administered with the poison- 

 fangs ; then the Spider retires, waiting for the 

 death-throes to calm down, after which the 

 huntress comes back to the game. In these 

 conditions, there is no serious danger. 



In the case of the Lycosa, the job is riskier. 

 She has naught to serve her but her courage 

 and her fangs and is obliged to leap upon the 

 formidable prey, to master it by her dexterity, 

 to annihilate it, in a measure, by her swift- 

 slaying talent. 



Annihilate is the word : the Bumble-bees 

 whom I draw from the fatal hole are a sufficient 

 proof. As soon as that shrill buzzing, which 

 I called the death-song, ceases, in vain I hasten 

 to insert my forceps : I always bring out the 

 insect dead, with slack proboscis and limp 



