36 
CREATURES OF MYSTERY 
spring weather he has everything he could possibly desire to 
provide his young with sustenance until they reach the adult 
stage of development. To him this means as much as man’s 
cold storage plants, since he is provided with living food which, 
were it not for his mysterious powers, would be utterly un¬ 
obtainable, it being out of season. The scientist insists that 
he injects a paralyzing fluid into his prey. I would like to sug¬ 
gest, and that with due respect to their profession, that the 
observation of this old scientist (without degree) is worthy of 
study. He declares with much confidence that the dirt-dauber 
hypnotizes his prey into a state of suspended animation. I am 
in position to add my personal testimony to that of Uncle 
Dave’s, having once witnessed the black wasp reduce to a state 
of utter helplessness a grown spider whose home he was raid¬ 
ing. He did not sting him, but accomplished the spider’s utter 
undoing, seemingly, by the power of his hypnotic eye. Should 
any scientific body take it upon themselves to disprove his con¬ 
tentions that the rattler can both utter a mating call and hyp¬ 
notize its prey, then it would surely entail more patience and 
expense than any institution of which we have any knowledge 
would be willing to expend for the information. Experts, or 
so-called experts, might be sent out into the wild by the score, 
and at an expense of countless tens of thousands of dollars 
annually, remaining in the field for half a century and never 
catch up with him applying his hypnotic art nor hear him utter¬ 
ing his mating call. The old gentleman of whom we write, ac¬ 
cording to his own testimony, has spent more than sixty years 
at Mother Nature’s knees, so to speak, daily being instructed 
by her as touching her many and varied secrets, verifying 
them, not by reasoning from this to that, but by looking facts 
squarely in the face. He has swapped ideas, observations, and 
experiences with perhaps half a hundred men who, too, have 
had better opportunities by far than the average person for 
horning in upon the secret ways of Mr. Rattler, and by avail¬ 
ing himself of the knowledge gained by them and freely im¬ 
parted to himself. By availing himself of the knowledge thus 
gained he has been enabled to cut many corners on the dia¬ 
mond-back, taking short-cuts to a better knowledge of him. 
