The Black-Bellied Tarantula 



much for their daring. Shall not hunger, 

 which brings the wolf from the wood, also 

 bring the Tarantula out of her hole? Two, 

 apparently more famished than the rest, do 

 at last pounce upon the Bee and repeat the 

 scene of murder before my eyes. The prey, 

 again bitten in the neck, exclusively in the 

 neck, dies on the instant. Three murders, 

 perpetrated in my presence under identical 

 conditions, represent the fruits of my experi- 

 ment pursued, on two occasions, from eight 

 o'clock in the morning until twelve midday. 



I had seen enough. The quick insect- 

 killer had taught me her trade as had the 

 paralyzer 1 before her: she had shown me 

 that she is thoroughly versed in the art of 

 the butcher of the Pampas. 2 The Tarantula 

 is an accomplished desnucador. It remained 

 to me to confirm the open-air experiment with 

 experiments in the privacy of my study. I 

 therefore got together a menagerie of these 

 poisonous Spiders, so as to judge of the viru- 



'Such as the Hairy Ammophila, the Cerceris and the 

 Languedocian Sphex, Digger-wasps described in other 

 of the author's essays. Translator's Note. 



2 The desnucador, the Argentine slaughterman, whose 

 methods of slaying cattle are detailed in the author's 

 essay entitled, The Theory of Instinct. Translator*? 

 Note. 



67 



