Facts and Thoughts about Spiders. i8i 
spiders that either make or take little holes in the 
ground, to reside in, and from which thej^riish forth 
to seize their prey. They also frequently sit inside 
their dens and patiently wait there for the intrusion 
of some bungling insect. hTow, in summer, to a 
dry spot of ground like this, comes a small wasp, 
scarcely longer than a blue-bottle fly, body and 
wings of a deep shining purplish blue colour, with 
only a white mark like a collar on the thorax. It 
flirts its blue wings, hurrying about here and there, 
and is extremely active, and of a slender graceful 
figure — the type of an assassin. It visits and 
explores every crack and hole in the ground, and, 
if you watch it attentively, you will at length see 
it, on arriving at a hole, give a little start back- 
wards. It knows that a spider lies concealed 
within. Presently, having apparently matured a 
plan of attack, it disappears into the hole and 
remains there for some time. Then, just when you 
are beginning to think that the little blue explorer 
has been trapped, out it rushes, flying in terror, 
apparently, from the spider who issues close behind 
in hot pursuit; but, before they are three inches 
away from the hole, quick as lightning the wasp 
turns on its follower, and the two become locked 
together in a deadly embrace. Looking like one 
insect, they spin rapidly round for a few moments, 
then up springs the wasp — victorious. The 
wretched victim is not dead; its legs move a 
little, but its soft body is paralyzed, and lies 
collapsed, flabby, and powerless as a stranded jelly- 
fish. And this is the invariable result of every 
such conflict. In other classes of beings, even the 
