62 



Flashlights on Natirk 



if a vcr\ lar^e and tiiiciik'iit specimen ijot cn- 

 tanj^li'd ill tlu- wi-b, nIk- sc-ciiicd to despair ot laiid- 

 inj4 liini. In such cases, she would cut hini out 

 bodily, by bitin;4 the threads, and let him drop at 



once, thankful, like 

 Dogberry, to be rid 

 t)t a knave. A mode- 

 rate-sized wasp, how- 

 ever, she would rush 

 out and attack in that 

 fren/y of ra<fe and 

 hunger, a sort of mad, 

 blind raj^e, which one 

 often notices in lierce 

 carnivorous animals. 

 She would be^in her 

 onslaught near the 

 victim's head, avoid- 

 ing his stinif, and en- 

 velop him in web, 

 till his winj^s were 

 pinioneil ; then she 

 would cautiously ap- 

 jiroach nearer and 

 nearer to the tail, but 

 ^ive the actual stin^ 

 a witle berth till the 

 conclusion of opera- 

 tions. The wasp, meanwhile, would keep protrud- 

 ing his poisoned lance in evident fury, strikin<f 

 wildly at the air ; while the spider continued to 

 suck him dry cjuietly, from the head backwaid, 



NO. 6.--R(1SAI.lM) ON IlF.K WAY IO 

 SK( TKK A mow I I V. 



