Vol. XXlv] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS 3<;3 



and flew out of the window with it. She then removed the 

 second and third and fourth spiders in precisely the same 

 way. 



She extracted the four foreign spiders and carried each one 

 out of the window ; why, pray, did she not drop them on the 

 floor and spare herself the trouble of carrying them so far 

 away? Having begun to carry out the foreigners, will she 

 know when to stop, or will she blindly carry out her own vic- 

 tims as well? She returned and carried out a fifth spider by 

 way of the window, then threw the sixth on the floor near 

 the nest, while the seventh she dropped near the window sill. 

 By this time her indignation had cooled sufficiently to permit 

 thoughtful consideration, and for fifteen minutes she thrust 

 her head in and out of the cell anxiously examining the con- 

 tents, and finally flew away. I used this chance to examine 

 the cell, and found that it was half packed with her own 

 spiders. 



Strange, strange creature ! Since you commenced to remove 

 the spiders, why did you not empty the cell ? Could you 

 distinguish your own victims from the intruders, and if so, 

 why did you remove three of your own? Why, pray, did 

 you not want the spiders which your sister had stung? They 

 could not have differed much from your own, for if there had 

 been a perceptible difference you would have stopped short 

 with the fourth spider, and would not have carried off three 

 of your own. Why did you spend a quarter of an hour in 

 examining the contents of the cell after you removed the 

 seventh spider, as if you were undecided whether you should 

 leave the remainder? 



It may be that in placing the four foreign spiders in the 

 cell, the position of three of her own was disturbed in such a 

 way that she, in all her wisdom, could not recognize them 

 as her own. In examining the remaining spiders, I purposely 

 disarranged them in the cell to see whether this would excite 

 the same behavior. The returning mother was evidently 

 much confused, for she spent two minutes by the watch, in 

 packing them close together again and examining the cell very 



