wriggles and twists; and that is all. They have no weapons capable of
contending with the assassin's dagger. I should like to see the huntress
grappling with an imposing adversary, one as crafty as herself, an expert
layer of ambushes and, like her, bearing a poisoned dirk. I should like to
see the bandit armed with her stiletto confronted by another bandit equally
familiar with the use of that weapon. Is such a duel possible? Yes, it is
quite possible and even quite common. On the one hand we have the Pompili,
the protagonists who are always victorious; on the other hand we have the
Spiders, the protagonists who are always overthrown.

Who that has diverted himself, however little, with the study of insects
does not know the Pompili? Against old walls, at the foot of the banks
beside unfrequented footpaths, in the stubble after the harvest, in the
tangles of dry grass, wherever the Spider spreads her nets, who has not
seen them busily at work, now running hither and thither, at random, their
wings raised and quivering above their backs, now moving from place to
place in flights long or short? They are hunting for a quarry which might
easily turn the tables and itself prey upon the trapper lying in wait for
it.

The Pompili feed their larvae solely on Spiders; and the Spiders feed on
any insect, commensurate with their size, that is caught in their nets.
While the first possess a sting, the second have two poisoned fangs. Often
their strength is equally matched; indeed the advantage is not seldom on
the Spider's side. The Wasp has her ruses of war, her cunningly
premeditated strokes: the Spider has her wiles and her set traps; the first
has the advantage of great rapidity of movement, while the second is able
to rely upon her perfidious web; the one has a sting which contrives to
penetrate the exact point to cause paralysis, the other has fangs which
bite the back of the neck and deal sudden death. We find the paralyser on