she comes and goes, flitting to and fro. The antennae quiver; the wings,
raised above the back, continually beat one against the other. Ah, here she
is, close to a Segestria's funnel! The Spider, who has hitherto remained
invisible, instantly appears at the entrance to the tube; she spreads her
six fore-legs outside, ready to receive the huntress. Far from fleeing
before the terrible apparition, she watches the watcher, fully prepared to
prey upon her enemy. Before this intrepid demeanour the Pompilus draws
back. She examines the coveted game, walks round it for a moment, then goes
away without attempting anything. When she has gone, the Segestria retires
indoors, backwards. For the second time the Wasp passes near an inhabited
funnel. The Spider on the lookout at once shows herself on the threshold of
her dwelling, half out of her tube, ready for defence and perhaps also for
attack. The Pompilus moves away and the Segestria reenters her tube. A
fresh alarm: the Pompilus returns; another threatening demonstration on the
part of the Spider. Her neighbour, a little later, does better than this:
while the huntress is prowling about in the neighbourhood of the funnel,
she suddenly leaps out of the tube, with the lifeline which will save her
from falling, should she miss her footing, attached to her spinnerets; she
rushes forward and hurls herself in front of the Pompilus, at a distance of
some eight inches from her burrow. The Wasp, as though terrified,
immediately decamps; and the Segestria no less suddenly retreats indoors.

Here, we must admit, is a strange quarry: it does not hide, but is eager to
show itself; it does not run away, but flings itself in front of the
hunter. If our observations were to cease here, could we say which of the
two is the hunter and which the hunted? Should we not feel sorry for the
imprudent Pompilus? Let a thread of the trap entangle her leg; and it is
all up with her. The other will be there, stabbing her in the throat. What
then is the method which she employs against the Segestria, always on the
alert, ready for defence, audacious to the point of aggression? Shall I