140 
NATURE’S CRAFTSMEN 
brief, for the spider, taken all unawares, received 
a cruel poisonous thrust in a vital part and suc¬ 
cumbed with scarcely an attempt at defense. 
The bug, without a pause or a backward glance, 
promptly returned to hiding and composed itself 
for another spring. 
“The heartless little wretch!” Alice ejacu¬ 
lated. “ It never took even one single bite. It 
kills for the very love of killing. I never heard 
of such an unprincipled little assassin.” 
“ Ha!” cried Tommy, slapping his leg delight¬ 
edly. “ You’ve named, it. I remember now of 
reading about the assassin bug just the other day. 
The writer said that the little butcher often killed 
his prey without even so much as tasting it, or 
perhaps sucked just a little of the choicest parts 
and left the remainder for the carrion eaters. 
About the time of Jack Frost’s arrival in the au¬ 
tumn they cluster together in companies, just as 
the little red and black dotted ladybirds do, and 
seek out some shelter where they may sleep over 
the winter. A stone or bit of bark will do, but 
they prefer to get into cracks and crevices in the 
house. 
“ The assassin bugs are our friends. We can 
feel sure of that by the number of insects they 
kill. True, the little tiger we have been watch¬ 
ing has laid out a host of our friends this time. 
It-” 
