Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 2 (1898).djvu/55

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Spider versus Wasp.—In 'The Zoologist' (1897, p. 476), just to hand, I find an interesting note by the Editor on the above subject, and it may therefore be useful to submit a little further evidence. So far as my experience in South Africa goes the balance is undoubtedly in favour of the Wasp. On three occasions I have been fortunate enough to observe a very large black Pompilid stocking its burrow with the body of a huge Mygaloid Spider. In two instances the Spider had already been vanquished by its powerful and active foe, and was being dragged off in a comatose condition for interment. Its weight must have been at least three times that of the Wasp, which was unable to lift it more than half an inch from the ground, progressing thus in short flying leaps, though more frequently the Spider was dragged along, the Wasp running backwards, and buzzing loudly and triumphantly all the while. An interesting feature of the performance was the manner in which the Pompilid managed to find its burrow. In one of the instances I measured the distance traversed, which amounted to no less than thirty yards. When first observed the Wasp was in a narrow footpath, but it shortly left this and entered the grass, which was then some six or eight inches high—a veritable forest in proportion to the insect; through all the denser parts it travelled backwards, dragging its prey over or around innumerable obstacles without any hesitation right to its hole, for which it did not have to search in any way. When the method of progression, the distance travelled, and the impediments encountered be taken into consideration, the directness of the course it took after leaving the path seemed little short of marvellous. The third case referred to was perhaps more interesting in that the contest had not concluded when I came upon the scene. The arena was an open roadway, and my attention was attracted at some distance by the movements and angry buzzing of the Wasp. On reaching the spot I found a monster Spider at bay in the middle of the road, with cephalo-thorax erect and the two anterior pairs of thick hairy legs uplifted, ready to strike at a moment's notice; he looked the very embodiment of envenomed rage. Round him circled his implacable enemy, stooping now and then hawk-like in its endeavours to sting his unprotected abdomen, but swerving off again as, quick as thought, the "Mygale" faced round in self-protection. This feinting and parrying would continue for a few moments, when the Wasp would settle on the ground a little way off, running backwards and forwards with its quick jerky gait, and rapidly flirting its black glossy wings, after the manner of its kind—all typical marauders. During these intervals the Spider sat crouched, up, apparently in terror, awaiting the next onslaught, though once he made an attempt to gain the shelter of a neighbouring plant; the insect, however, drove him back towards the open by