Garden Spiders: Pairing and Hunting 



Cetonia- and Oryctes-grubs. Even so the 

 other paralyzers. Each has her own victim 

 and knows nothing of any of the others. 



The same exclusive tastes prevail among the 

 slayers. Let us remember, in this connection, 

 Philanthus apivorus 1 and, especially, the 

 Thomisus, the comely Spider who cuts Bees' 

 throats. They understand the fatal blow, 

 either in the neck or under the chin, a thing 

 which the Epeira does not understand; but, 

 just because of this talent, they are specialists. 

 Their province is the Domestic Bee. 



Animals are a little like ourselves: they 

 excel in an art only on condition of special- 

 izing in it. The Epeira, who, being omniv- 

 orous, is obliged to generalize, abandons 

 scientific methods and makes up for this by 

 distilling a poison capable of producing torpor 

 and even death, no matter what the point 

 attacked. 



the Sphex, and feeds her larvae on the grubs of the 

 Cetonia, or Rose-chafer, and the Oryctes, or Rhinoceros 

 Beetle. Cf. The Life and Love of the Insect, by J. Henri 

 Fabre, translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos: 

 chap. xi. Translator's Note. 



1 Cf. Social Life in the Insect World, by J. H. Fabre, 

 translated by Bernard Miall : chap, xiii., in which the 

 name is given, by a printer's error, as Philanthus avi- 

 torus. Translator's Note. 



