346 ARTICULATA. INSECTA. 



the fore feet for a few seconds at the mouth of the 

 hole, as if conscious that it needed enlarging. Hav- 

 ing got the prey up to the mouth, she descended, 

 tail foremost, and tried to draw it down, grasping 

 the thigh close to the thorax ; the Spider was, 

 however, too large to go in this way, and so she 

 instantly let go, and seized him by the extremity 

 of the abdomen, where she had not touched him 

 before, and drew him down. Even thus, it was a 

 tight fit, but at length he disappeared within the 

 hole ; and, as the Sphex did not reappear for some 

 time, we left the place. All the time she was 

 dragging him, her wings were shut, but in constant 

 motion, flirting up and down. 



An American genus, (Pelop&us*} allied to the 

 preceding, is called the Dauber, from its singular 

 habit of placing its nest of mud against the walls 

 and ceiling in the interior of houses. When fin- 

 ished, these nests look like handfuls of clay, which 

 have been thrown up at random, and adhered ; but 

 inwardly they contain very smooth and regular cells, 

 each containing a grub, and a dozen or more of 

 Spiders. The construction of these nests, which 

 we have observed with great minuteness, is per- 

 formed by the Dauber bringing little pellets of clay 

 in her mouth, about as large as peas, one after 

 another, which she spreads and arranges with her 

 jaws ; previously to closing up each, she lays an 

 egg in the bottom, and places over it, as we have 

 said above, from twelve to eighteen Spiders, not 



j, pelas, near, and ov-xTov, opaion, a chimney. 



