Note 3 — Chapter VI · THE MANTIS: HER HUNTING

This preliminary gnawing of the neck is too regular an occurrence to be purposeless. Let us indulge in a digression which will tell us more about it. In June I often find on the lavender in the enclosure two small Crab Spiders (Thomisus onustus, Walck.,3 and T. rotundatus, Walck.). One is satin-white and has pink and green rings round her legs; the other is inky-black and has an abdomen encircled with red with a foliaceous central patch. They are pretty Spiders, both of them, and they walk sideways, after the manner of Crabs. They do not know how to weave a hunting-net; the little silk which they possess is reserved exclusively for the downy satchel containing the eggs. Their plan of campaign therefore is to lie in ambush on the flowers and to fling themselves unexpectedly on the quarry when it arrives on pilfering intent.