A QUEER "SPIDER'S NEST" 161 



"spider nest," while the cavity is now filled with a filmy 

 brown cocoon, containing perhaps a plump white larva, 

 perhaps a pupa, or maybe a steel-blue slender-waisted 

 wasp just making its exit, and fully prepared to tell you 

 all about spiders, if you will only listen to its hum with 

 proper understanding. 



So then our "dead spiders" are not dead after all. 

 A very little provocation in the way of a rude touch or 

 jostle of any one of them will cause a perceptible tre- 

 mor of the legs even after weeks of confinement within 

 the sealed mud chamber. A wonderful provision of 

 nature is this potent sting of the parent wasp to insure 

 a supply of fresh living food for its young until the 

 completion of its growth. 



Many varieties of spiders are packed within these 

 nests through the season. The earlier nests are usually 

 filled with the half-grown specimens of the beautiful 

 black and yellow Argiope, which, is the species shown in 

 our illustration. 



The common house-spider is a favorite prey in the 

 summer months, while in the late autumn the banded 

 Argiope seems to be the principal attraction. The Sep- 

 tember nests in this locality are usually packed full with 

 this species. 



