BLUE HUNTRESS 427 



Her course is irregular. Here she searches for perhaps 

 a minute followed by a longer investigation some fifty feet 

 away. Now the hunt heads her back to the starting point 

 and later to the intervening ground, which is searched min- 

 utely. At other times she walks in a zigzag fashion for a 

 great distance, even though unsuccessful in the end. It is a 

 surprise to me that she finds her elusive and protectively col- 

 ored prey at all. You wonder why? Then search among 

 the leaves for the spider that serves to provision her nest. 

 You will scarcely find one, even in a whole day's hunt, yet 

 the huntress is a dominant insect, seldom defeated in her 

 quest. 



At length the spider is found lurking beneath a brittle 

 leaf. Her antennae telegraph the information to a tiny 

 brain and instantly the wasp springs back as though sur- 

 prised. A second later she recovers and thrusts herself into 

 the spider's den. Her body bends under her so that the 

 deadly sting protrudes almost beyond the head. At the first 

 movement from the spider, she springs back again with quiv- 

 ering wings. The manoeuvre is repeated over and over until 

 her prey is at length, forced unconsciously into a convenient 

 position. Then like a flash she is upon the unfortunate. Her 

 sting plunges deeply into the creature's nerve center and in- 

 stant paralysis results. 



The spider is not killed outright. In that case it would 

 decompose and become dangerous fare for the young wasps. 

 Instead, it is simply paralyzed. It will never move again to 

 protest, or protect itself. Perhaps it may react automatic- 

 ally with a slight quivering of the legs when touched, but 

 henceforth it will yield to whatever fate has in store for it. 

 The victim will awake from unconsciousness only as a part 

 of another living creature, when spider substance has been 

 eaten to build the body of a wasp. 



The spider is a larger creature than the wasp herself, 

 yet she manages to fly laboriously to her nest, carrying her 

 victim by one of its palpi, clasped between her mandibles. 



