Note 10 — Chapter IV · THE AGENIÆ; THE PELOPÆUS’ VICTUALS

The Spider, armed with poison-fangs, is a dangerous quarry to tackle; when of fair size, she demands of her adversary an audacity and above all a tactical skill which the Pelopæus, it seems to me, does not fully possess. Moreover, the small diameter of the cells would not admit a bulky prey, such as the Tarantula hunted by the Ringed Calicurgus.10 The Calicurgus deposits her corpulent victim in a cavern obtained without labour in the old plaster at the foot of a wall; the Pelopæus places hers in a jar, a laborious construction whose capacity has to be reduced to suit the larva. The Pelopæus, therefore, hunts game of moderate size, smaller than one would at first expect from the insect’s vigorous appearance. If she encounters a species that is apt to become plump, she always selects a young one. This happens in the case of the Cross Spider, who, when full-grown, with her belly swollen with eggs, almost rivals the Calicurgus’ Tarantula and who is admitted to the provision-jar only when of niggardly dimensions, very different from those which maturity will bring. For the rest, the size varies, between one specimen and another, by a hundred per cent and more. The essential point is that the quarry can be stored in the narrow jar. This variation in the size of the items provided leads to corresponding variations in their number. One cell is stuffed with a dozen Spiders; another contains only five or six. The average number is eight. The nurseling’s sex must of a surety play its part, as with the other Wasps, in regulating the luxuries of the table.