MARVELS OF METAMORPHOSIS 



817 



to verify these con- 

 clusions in the field as 

 well as in the labora- 

 tory. 



In one case I liter- 

 ally caught her in the 

 act. I first saw her 

 racing back and forth 

 on the bare ground, 

 so busy looking for a 

 trapdoor that she did 

 not notice me at all. 

 Suddenly she saw a 

 small trapdoor and 

 fairly pounced upon 

 it, first trying in vain 

 to open it with her 

 claws, and then rip- 

 ping and tearing at 

 it with her powerful 

 mandibles. 



In less than a min- 

 ute she had torn a 

 hole through it and 

 disappeared down the 

 tube. But the joke 

 was on Psammy that 

 time. I quickly 

 corked the hole with 

 a bit of wood, dug up 

 the tube with Psammy 

 inside, and took her 

 home to join my lab- 

 oratory family. 



INCUBATOR BABIES 



Early in May my 

 cocoons began to 

 hatch, and I prepared 

 for laboratory rear- 

 ing by carving away 

 one side of a number 

 of trapdoor tubes and 

 grinding the edges 

 smooth with sand- 

 paper so that they would fit snugly in 

 my photographing cages. Through these 

 observation windows I was able to study 

 all the action and photograph it almost 

 at will. 



The spiders did not like so much light and 

 would often spin webbing over the glass at 

 night, but the wasps seemed to feel per- 

 fectly at home. Both males and females 

 emerged from the cocoons. I established a 

 matrimonial bureau, and found that they 

 were quite willing to meet Dan Cupid more 

 than half way. Then, with several mated 

 females, I was ready for the next important 



WELL FED, THE NEW PSAMMY WEAVES HERSELF A CRADLE 



At the bottom of the trapdoor tube, the larva spins her amazing cocoon. 

 The primitive mouth that has been gobbhng spider meat suddenly becomes 

 an unerring spinneret fashioning "guy ropes" to hold the cocoon in place 

 (upper picture). Below, the maggot engineer "licks in" a smooth, tough 

 diaphragm of waterproof material — the roof of the "attic room" (page 818). 



step in solving The Case of the Curious 

 Cocoon. 



By this time I had a good idea of the 

 whole story, but I could not photograph a 

 mental picture. I must have her ''confes- 

 sion" in action, so that I could photograph 

 it as unquestionable evidence. 



PSAMMY CONFESSES HER CRIME 



So I put a Mrs. Psammy in a cage con- 

 taining a trapdoor tube, hoping that she 

 would "talk." She certainly did! 



Almost before I could close the cage, 

 Psammy found the trapdoor, flipped it open. 



