'920, Johnson. — Halidus rubicundiis and Lycosa picla. 91 



carrying her egg bag behind in the usual way. She crawled 

 over the sand till she came to another burrow, of which 

 she set to work to enlarge the entrance. This was a most 

 interesting operation, and as no bee came to dispute the 

 ownership of the burrow I was able to observe the spider's 

 actions. She worked with her front legs pulling at the 

 sand and, getting it into a lump, took it apparently in her 

 jaws and carried it where it would not block up the entrance 

 by rolHng back into the burrow. This she continued to 

 do until the opening was large enough to admit herself 

 and her egg bag. Then having settled herself in the burrow 

 to her satisfaction, she proceeded to weave the covering, 

 turning round and working her spinnerets from side to 

 side until she had a complete curtain of silk and sand 

 covering the mouth of the burrow. While the spider was 

 working a bee fiew up and alighted on the sand near by, 

 but took no notice of the spider nor did the spider take any 

 notice of the bee, and presently the latter flew off again. 



It would seem from what I have related that the bee 

 does not object to the spider entering her burrow if she has 

 finished with it, but if she has not finished then she attacks 

 the spider and apparently is able to evict her undesirable 

 tenant. I fully expected when I saw the bee follow the 

 spider into the burrow that there would be a fight to a 

 finish, but evidently respect for each other's lethal weapons 

 produced a truce, for though the spider might kill the bee 

 if it came to a death grapple, the bee might also inflict a 

 fatal thrust on the spider with her sting. 



I very much regret that owing to the bad weather I was 

 unable to make more perfect observations of the relations 

 between the bees and the spiders. I should very much 

 have liked to see how the Lycosa would act v/hen her eggs 

 hatched out ; also how the newly emerged Halicti would 

 escape being entangled in the curtain of silk and sand 

 which the Lycosa had woven over the mouth of the burrow, 

 for even though the Lycosa had left the burrow and pushed 

 the curtain to one side the young Halictus might still be 

 entangled in the remains. On the other hand the Lycosa 

 and her curtain would be an effectual barrier to the entrance 

 of any parasite on the Halictus. 



