(070) 
— 
the habitat of these creatures.* No less interesting combats take 
place in the tropical forests, and Bingham (1900-1901) tells of 
-a fight to a finish in the forests of Tennasserim, India, between 
a very large wasp (Salius sycophanta) and a powerful spider of 
the genus Galeodes. Salius is about two inches long and is 
fully as large as our famous “Tarantula Hawk,” while the spider 
Galeodes is a rather long-bodied, very active and repulsive crea- 
ture nearly two inches long, and belonging to the family Solpu- 
gidae. The account reads as follows: 
“*T once saw and timed a fight between the huge fossorial wasp Salius 
sycophanta Grebodo, and a very large species of spider (Galeodes) which 
is common in the forests of Tenasserim, lving in holes at the roots of 
trees and clumps of bamboo. I give a copy of the note I made at the 
time :— 
Camp ATARAN, 16th October, 1891.—Found the nest of a large hairy 
spider, a Galeodes, behind my tent among the roots of a clump of bamboos. 
The animal was outside and I tried to catch it, repulsive looking as it was, 
with a pair of forceps, but he, or she rather, escaped and ran down a hole. 
On digging it up I found the hole ran obliquely into the ground for about 
two feet and ended in a slightly enlarged chamber. I had dug gently and 
earefully to avoid injuring the spider and thus came on her crouching 
inside. I tried to pick her up with the forceps, but with a sudden leap 
she sprang on to my sleeve and began running up my arm. This was too 
much for me, and I gave a violent jerk to my arm, sending spider and for- 
ceps flying. The spider fell close to the side of my tent on a rather bare 
space and then, to my astonishment, scuttled for its life. I followed and 
eaught sight of the cause of its alarm. A beautiful large Salius with 
black body and tawny red wings, which I recognized as S. sycophanta, was 
flying in an excited way round and round. Looking for the spider, after a 
hunt, I spied her crouching between a tuft of grass and a bundle of wooden 
tent pegs that had been thrown down. She had tucked in her legs and 
made herself as small as she could, and I was struck by the resemblance of 
her reddish-brown furry body to the color of the ground, Quite a long 
time the Salius kept quartering the ground, and it seemed to me quite evi- 
dent she was hunting by sight, for as long as the spider remained motion- 
less, although the wasp passed two or three times within an inch or so, she 
never seemed to find it out. At last, why I don’t know, the spider made a 
rush trying to get to the shelter of a biggish clump of thatching grass 
about a yard away. Like a flash the Salius swooped down on her and then 
commenced a rough-and-tumble fight on the ground, both combatants roll- 
ing over and over so fast that I was quite unable to see whether the wasp 
managed to sting the spider or the spider managed to bite the wasp. How- 
ever, the spider in a few seconds shook herself free and again tried to reach 
shelter, but in vain—the Salius with a loud buzz flew right over and, 
alighting on the ground beyond, faced round and intercepted her. Then 
commenced a curious scene: the spider stood on the defensive, turning and 
facing the wasp, as the latter with quivering wings and abdomen paced 
round and round, evidently watching an opportunity to close again, and the 
spider quite on its guard, standing up and keeping a vigilant eye on her 
enemy. This went on, I should think, for fully ten minutes until, perhaps, 
tired out and taking advantage of the wasp’s stopping still for a second, 
the Galeodes made a second rush only to find herself grappled by her enemy. 
