THE VOICE OF THE DESERT 



174 



provocation of giving more than a not-too-serious bite. Yet 

 he does look more dangerous than the scorpion and he 

 is, if possible, even less popular. 



He has a leg spread of four or sometimes of as much as 

 six inches, and it is said that he can leap for as much as 

 two feet when pouncing upon his insect prey. Most of the 

 time he spends in rather neat tunnels or burrows exca- 

 vated in the sand, from which entomologists in search of 

 specimens flush him out with water. And it is chiefly in 

 the hottest months, especially after some rain, that one 

 sees him prowling about, often crossing a road and some- 

 times waiting at a screen door to be let in. Except for man, 

 his most serious enemy is the "tarantula hawk," a large 

 black-bodied wasp with orange-red wings, who pounces 

 upon his larger antagonist, paralyzes him with a sting 

 and carries his now helpless body to feed the young wasps 

 which will hatch in their own underground burrow. 



Just to look at the tarantula's haiiy legs and set of gleam- 

 ing eyes is to suspect him of unconventionality or worse, 

 and the suspicions are justified. He is one of those creatures 

 in whom love seems to bring out the worst. Moreover, be- 

 cause at least one of the several species happens to have 

 been the subject of careful study, the details are public. 

 About the only thing he cannot be accused of is "infan- 

 tile sexuality," and he can t be accused of that only be- 

 cause the male requires some eleven years to reach sexual 

 maturity or even to develop the special organs necessary 

 for his love making — if you can stretch this euphemistic 

 term far enough to include his activities. 



When at last he has come of age, he puts off the neces- 

 sity of risking contact with a female as long as possible. 



