46 



CHARLES DARWIN 



of half-dead spiders and caterpillars, which they seem 

 wonderfully to know how to sting to that degree as to leave 

 them paralysed but alive, until their eggs are hatched; and 

 the larvae feed on the horrid mass of powerless, half-killed 

 victims — a sight which has been described by an enthusiastic 

 naturalist 8 as curious and pleasing ! I was much interested 

 one day by watching a deadly contest between a Pepsis and 

 a large spider of the genus Lycosa. The wasp made a sudden 

 dash at its prey, and then flew away: the spider was evi- 

 dently wounded, for, trying to escape, it rolled down a little 

 slope, but had still strength sufficient to crawl into a thick 

 tuft of grass. The wasp soon returned, and seemed sur- 

 prised at not immediately finding its victim. It then com- 

 menced as regular a hunt as ever hound did after fox; 

 making short semicircular casts, and all the time rapidly vi- 

 brating its wings and antennae. The spider, though well 

 concealed, was soon discovered ; and the wasp, evidently still 

 afraid of its adversary's jaws, after much manoeuvring, in- 

 flicted two stings on the under side of its thorax. At last, 

 carefully examining with its antennae the now motionless 

 spider, it proceeded to drag away the body. But I stopped 

 both tyrant and prey. 9 



The number of spiders, in proportion to other insects, is 

 here compared with England very much larger; perhaps 

 more so than with any other division of the articulate ani- 

 mals. The variety of species among the jumping spiders 

 appears almost infinite. The genus, or rather family, of 

 Epeira, is here characterized by many singular forms ; some 

 species have pointed coriaceous shells, others enlarged and 

 spiny tibiae. Every path in the forest is barricaded with the 

 Strong yellow web of a species, belonging to the same divi- 

 sion with the Epeira clavipes of Fabricius, which was for- 

 merly said by Sloane to make, in the West Indies, webs so 

 strong as to catch birds. A small and pretty kind of spider, 



8 In a MS. in the British Museum by Mr. Abbott, who made his obser- 

 vations in Georgia ; see Mr. A. White's paper in the " Annals of > Nat. 

 Hist.," vol. vii. p. 472. Lieut. Hutton has described a sphex_ with 6imilar 

 habits in India, in the "Journal of the Asiatic Society," vol. 1. p. 555- 



» Don Felix Azara (vol. i. p. 175), mentioning a hymenopterous insect, 

 probably of the same genus, says he saw it dragging a dead spider through 

 tall grass, in a straight line to its nest, which was one hundred and sixty- 

 three paces distant. He adds that the wasp, in order to find the road- 

 everv aow and then made " demi-tours d' environ trois palmes. 



