surprise the reader if I tell him that this problem filled me with the most
eager interest, that it held me for weeks in contemplation before that
cheerless wall? Nevertheless, my tale will be a short one.

On several occasions I see the Pompilus suddenly fling herself on one of
the Spider's legs, seize it with her mandibles and endeavour to draw the
animal from its tube. It is a sudden rush, a surprise attack, too quick to
permit the Spider to parry it. Fortunately, the latter's two hind-legs are
firmly hooked to the dwelling; and the Segestria escapes with a jerk, for
the other, having delivered her shock attack, hastens to release her hold;
if she persisted, the affair might end badly for her. Having failed in this
assault, the Wasp repeats the procedure at other funnels; she will even
return to the first when the alarm is somewhat assuaged. Still hopping and
fluttering, she prowls around the mouth, whence the Segestria watches her,
with her legs outspread. She waits for the propitious moment; she leaps
forward, seizes a leg, tugs at it and springs out of reach. More often than
not, the Spider holds fast; sometimes she is dragged out of the tube, to a
distance of a few inches, but immediately returns, no doubt with the aid of
her unbroken lifeline.

The Pompilus' intention is plain: she wants to eject the Spider from her
fortress and fling her some distance away. So much perseverance leads to
success. This time all goes well: with a vigorous and well-timed tug the
Wasp has pulled the Segestria out and at once lets her drop to the ground.
Bewildered by her fall and even more demoralized by being wrested from her
ambush, the Spider is no longer the bold adversary that she was. She draws
her legs together and cowers into a depression in the soil. The huntress is
there on the instant to operate on the evicted animal. I have barely time
to draw near to watch the tragedy when the victim is paralysed by a thrust
of the sting in the thorax.