NOTES AND QUERIES. 29 
INSECTA. 
Spider versus Wasp.—lIn ‘The Zoologist’ (1897, p. 476), just to 
hand, I find an interesting note by the Editor on the above subject, and it 
may therefore be useful to submit a little further evidence. So far as my 
experience in South Africa goes the balance is undoubtedly in favour of 
the Wasp. On three occasions I have been fortunate enough to observe 
a very large black Pompilid stocking its burrow with the body of a huge 
Mygaloid Spider. In two instances the Spider had already been vanquished 
_ by its powerful and active foe, and was being dragged off in a comatose 
condition for interment. Its weight must have been at least three times 
that of the Wasp, which was unable to lift it more than half an inch from 
the ground, progressing thus in short flying leaps, though more frequently 
the Spider was dragged along, the Wasp running backwards, and buzzing 
loudly and triumphantly all the while. An interesting feature of the per- 
formance was the manner in which the Pompilid managed to find its 
burrow. In one of the instances I measured the distance traversed, which 
amounted to no less than thirty yards. When first observed the Wasp 
was in a narrow footpath, but it shortly left this and entered the grass, 
which was then some six or eight inches high—a veritable forest in pro- 
portion to the insect ; through all the denser parts it travelled backwards, 
dragging its prey over or around innumerable obstacles without any hesita- 
tion right to its hole, for which it did not have to search in any way. When 
the method of progression, the distance travelled, and the impediments 
encountered be taken into consideration, the directness of the course it 
took after leaving the path seemed little short of marvellous. The third 
case referred to was perhaps more interesting in that the contest had not 
concluded when I came upon the scene. The arena was an open roadway, 
and my attention was attracted at some distance by the movements and 
angry buzzing of the Wasp. On reaching the spot I found a monster 
Spider at bay in the middle of the road, with cephalo-thorax erect and the 
two anterior pairs of thick hairy legs uplifted, ready to strike at a moment’s 
notice; he looked the very embodiment of envenomed rage. Round him 
circled his implacable enemy, stooping now and then hawk-like in its 
endeavours to sting his unprotected abdomen, but swerving off again as, 
quick as thought, the “‘Mygale” faced round in self-protection. This 
feinting and parrying would continue for a few moments, when the Wasp 
would settle on the ground a little way off, running backwards and forwards 
with its quick jerky gait, and rapidly flirting its black glossy wings, after 
the manner of its kind—all typical marauders. During these intervals 
the Spider sat crouched, up, apparently in terror, awaiting the next on- 
slaught, though once he made an attempt to gain the shelter of a neigh- 
bouring plant; the insect, however, drove him back towards the open by 
