Pairing and Hunting 285 



I visit my Epeira at intervals. The mouth 

 does not change its place. I visit her for the 

 last time at nine o'clock in the evening. Matters 

 stand exactly as they did : after six hours' con- 

 sumption, the mouth is still sucking at the 

 lower end of the right haunch. The fluid con- 

 tents of the victim are transferred to the ogress' 

 belly, I know not how. 



Next morning, the Spider is still at table. I 

 take away her dish. Naught remains of the 

 Locust but his skin, hardly altered in shape, but 

 utterly drained and perforated in several places. 

 The method, therefore, was changed during the 

 night. To extract the non-fluent residue, the 

 viscera and muscles, the stiff cuticle had to be 

 tapped here, there and elsewhere, after which 

 the tattered husk, placed bodily in the press of 

 the mandibles, would have been chewed, re- 

 chewed and finally reduced to a pill, which the 

 sated Spider throws up. This would have been 

 the end of the victim, had I not taken it away 

 before the time. 



Whether she wound or kill, the Epeira bites 

 her captive somewhere or other, no matter 

 where. This is an excellent method on her 



