Life Insurance for Wasps 



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mud, to exclude strangers and mischief-makers, 

 and the wasp goes hunting takes out its first 

 policy of insurance for the benefit of the in- 

 tended occupant of this domicile. 



Before long, if she is fortunate, she finds a 

 spider. What is its name does not matter, nor 

 does its size, so that it be not too large ; but big 

 ones are sometimes sheared of legs or dismem- 

 bered in order to be made manageable. She 

 darts at it, whereupon the spider probably 

 drops like Newton's apple, by which ruse it 

 may escape, or it may not. If it fails to drop 

 quickly enough or far enough the wasp catches 

 it in her jaws, drives in her sting once or twice, 

 and carries it off in the grasp of her mouth and 

 forefeet not, however, directly to her home. 

 Instead, she first alights on some convenient 

 perch and there rolls her captive about until 

 she has it in a position she likes, and then stings 

 it once, deliberately and forcibly. This done 

 she picks it up, takes it home and stuffs it down 

 into the bottom of the cell. Then she rushes 

 away for another, seeking one of the same kind 

 as a preference, but if they are scarce catch- 



