the Spider-huntress' part I will confine myself to the following, which
will be sufficient to prove my point. By joining, with silken strands, the
three folioles which form the leaf of Virgil's cytisus, a Spider has built
herself a green arbour, a horizontal sheath, open at either end. A questing
Pompilus comes upon the scene, finds the game to her liking and pops in her
head at the entrance of the cell. The Spider immediately retreats to the
other end. The huntress goes round the Spider's dwelling and reappears at
the other door. Again the Spider retreats, returning to the first entrance.
The Wasp also returns to it, but always by the outside. Scarcely has she
done so, when the Spider rushes for the opposite opening; and so on for
fully a quarter of an hour, both of them coming and going from one end of
the cylinder to the other, the Spider inside and the Pompilus outside.

The quarry was a valuable one, it seems, since the Wasp persisted for a
long time in her attempts, which were invariably defeated; however, the
huntress had to abandon them, baffled by this perpetual running to and fro.
The Pompilus made off; and the Spider, once more on the watch, patiently
awaited the heedless Midges. What should the Wasp have done to capture this
much-coveted game? She should have entered the verdant cylinder, the
Spider's dwelling, and pursued the Spider direct, in her own house, instead
of remaining outside, going from one door to the other. With such swiftness
and dexterity as hers, it seemed to me impossible that the stroke should
fail: the quarry moved clumsily, a little sideways, like a Crab. I judged
it to be an easy matter; the Pompilus thought it highly dangerous. To-day I
am of her opinion: if she had entered the leafy tube, the mistress of the
house would have operated on her neck and the huntress would have become
the quarry.

Years passed and the paralyser of the Spiders still refused to reveal her
secret; I was badly served by circumstances, could find no leisure, was