The Narbonne Lycosa 73 



assisted the weaklings through the trap-door ; 

 and, when her duty was done, very gently she 

 died. The Hen does not reach this height of 

 self-abnegation. 



Other Spiders do better still, as, for instance, 

 the Narbonne Lycosa, or Black-bellied Taran- 

 tula {Lycosa narbonnensis, Walck.), whose 

 prowess has been described in an earlier chapter. 

 The reader will remember her burrow, her pit 

 of a bottle-neck's width, dug in the pebbly soil 

 beloved by the lavender and the thyme. The 

 mouth is rimmed by a bastion of gravel and bits 

 of wood cemented with silk. There is nothing 

 else around her dwelling : no web, no snares of 

 any kind. 



From her inch-high turret, the Lycosa lies 

 in wait for the passing Locust. She gives a 

 bound, pursues the prey and suddenly deprives 

 it of motion with a bite in the neck. The game 

 is consumed on the spot, or else in the lair ; 

 the insect's tough hide arouses no disgust. 

 The sturdy huntress is not a drinker of blood, 

 Hke the Epeira ; she needs solid food, food 

 that crackles between the jaws. She is like a 

 Dog devouring his bone. 



