CREATURES OF MYSTERY 
35 
nize the diamond-back as their traditional enemy, and will flee 
from their presence—even from the smell of them—which they 
recognize instantly and without fail. Whether they have ever 
encountered one before or smelled one before makes no dif¬ 
ference. Just why, then, was this cat found fraternizing with 
her dread enemy? Just why did she abandon her family of 
kittens, stand vigil over him, and die by his side, unscathed 
by his fangs? 
Observations of reliable persons, practically without limit, 
could be had, but they would not serve to strengthen the evi¬ 
dence already presented. Lay observers from far distant 
points, and who never heard of each other, testify alike as to 
the behavior of both the reptile and his victim, be it rabbit, 
squirrel, bird or cat. Any impartial body of men would readily 
sustain our contention, basing their verdict on what courts of 
law define as a preponderance of the evidence. Men are almost 
daily sentenced to death on circumstantial evidence less con¬ 
vincing. 
This unschooled old master of arts once performed a post 
mortem operation on a rattler he had slain, having noticed 
that he had bagged an unusual supply of food. His digestive 
organs contained a grown rabbit and three squirrels. Anyone 
familiar with the habits of the gray squirrel knows that he 
spends most of his time in the tops of trees, and without some 
unusual gift which would enable him to induce the squirrel to 
come down from the treetops, then he could not possibly bag 
so much game in so brief a period of time. 
While we are shocking the professional pride of many who 
offer contrary contentions, we might as well relate some other 
circumstances tending to prove that the power of hypnotism 
extends even into the insect world. 
Laymen and scientists alike have long been aware that the 
black wasp, or commonly termed dirt-dauber, possesses some 
undefined and mysterious power which enables him to put 
other insects and spiders to sleep and store them away in his 
mud house for long periods of time as fresh as the day they 
were caught. Each little room of his house is liberally stocked, 
and when the eggs of the wasp are incubated by the warm 
