THE AMBRICAIC ENTOMOLOGIST. 



129 



The TarantuIa-killiM- is u Imstlin;; iiii.|uiit in>crt, :il- 

 ways in motion, flyiiiK imw Inn', imw llnrr, miil w Inn 

 running on the ground its \\ iii-s an- in ii ronM:iiii -i:ii.' 

 of vibration. ShouM it dis.-i.vcr a Taranliila, it L.-^in-. 

 instantly to tly in ian-li>> in thr air aiciunl ii~ \i.iiin. 

 The spider, as if knowinu' il> lair. iniiilili« \i..lriiilv. 

 standing up and niakini; a -liuw ..f li-hl . I,nt tlir iv-Ki- 

 auceis very fci-l.lr anil m|' nn ;,\ :mI ri:r -i.idi r'- fn,' ~,,,in 



discovers a tavora Mr i iml and .l.iil- .iiinii thr fiian- 



tula whom it wciun.U uilli il- -tin-, and a^ain rMnninii- 

 ces flying in I'irrlr- Thr injin-. d -pi.lii' i- l In-.iw n inlo 

 a tremor and oft I ai liccimir. |.ai-al\ /--!. Hhm^li ih-' intlir- 

 tiou of a second and r\ ,ai a iliir.i x\ nnnd i- -Miii,-iiinrs 

 necessary. Sooner ur lain- tin- ^pidrt- lirmnH'^ jM.wrr- 

 less, when tlie victor aiiin-oacln--. i-arrruIlN iVc 11)1- ii- 



way to see if its work lias ln-nn .dl. i-tnally innr.iii 1 



It then begins to drag the Taranlula iiitu a liol.' whi.li 

 it has previously dug in the ground, where, after tin- 

 deposition of its egg by the wasp, the spider is eovi-red 

 up and allowed to remain. 



I once met with one of these wasps that had just killed 

 a large Tarantula . This was in central Texas, in mid- 

 summer, when 11" rain hail faih-n tdr a Imi;; time and 

 the prairie soil \\a- lill.-.l with nuniriou- -iin-c-racks. 

 The weiglit of tin- -|iidri- u :i~ ai l.-a-l iliire linies that 

 of the wasp, yet lin- \\a-p ninniii- li.irkuard- drairged 

 it along through the dry i;aa-> Hliirli ntlei-<-d (-(Hisiiior- 

 able resistance, overeotninj; every (■l.-lael.- Iiy c-arin-st 

 perseverance. The route was r.-ndi-n-d >till iii'jn- ililli- 



cult by thecracks in the s,.il. down uliieli l.nih a^inn- 



.lUy tumbled; and several tinier 1 iliun-4lil tlia' the Tar- 

 antula was lost at the bellnm cif a i-iaek. Km kuih would 



watched lor 1 

 wasp ( 



.Ufa 



rop til 



weed 



to see tlir iv-idt. altlHui^li ii 



distant tmin uur (-iK-aiiiime 



distance, the wasp ami spide 



was then sure that the sjiidei 



tie I bent down to see what 



was much surprised at sei-in^ 



der from the crack. At sm-ii 



I inadvertently exclainn-d a 



low! " This exclamation e; 



spider and gaze at me for a n 



first time noticed me. It then tlew three or four times 



around the spider, as if to mark its locality, and went 



away. Sorry for its departure, I took the spider to our 



tent and preserved it in alcohol . 



In the first number of the American Ento- 

 mologist (pages 8 and 9) we referred briefly, 

 on the authority of Benj. Borden, a rcsi)eftrtble 



[Fis." 



called to 

 i town. . 

 1 paid thei 



few of 1 

 but he I 

 coarse 



rnienflv 



upon it, and lie i 

 got stung in the 1 

 puncture was so 

 and the pain wa 

 without any seri 



Mr. Borden was the first person to discover 

 that the Gigantic Digger Wasp (Stizus grandis) 

 provisions Its nest with a Cicada; but an allied 

 species, whicli is much commoner, the Handsome 

 Digger AVtisn (Sfizua spfciosiis. Drnry), Figure 



[FiK 



Qualier farmer of Xorristown, Pennsylvania, to 

 the Gigantic Digger-wasp (Slizus yrandis, Say) 

 Figure 102, provisioning its nest with a Cicada 

 (Locust), We repeat here the figure given in 

 our first number, and quote at full length what 

 Mr. Borden told us on the subject : 



(.'olors — iilack i 



lii:i,hasl)ueupublisiiedby many diflerent writers 

 during tlie last century, as liaving tlie very 

 same liabits.' This'species we know to occur in 

 South Illinois; the fine female specimen, from 

 which the above figure was drawn, having 

 been captured in 1808, in Union county, by Mr. 

 T. A. E. Holcomb, and obligingly presented to 

 us. Whetlier Dr. Hull's observations npou cer- 

 tain gigantic wasps, of which •' he and his sons, 

 and his hired men, see one or two every year, 

 flying along with considerable difliculty with a 

 locust (Cicada) in their grasp,"* apply to this 

 last species, or to the other one, is for the pres- 

 ent uncertain. Of the large ami superbly 



♦See American Entomologist, I, page y. 



