kill them outright, but simply
anaesthetizes them by instilling a small amount of poison through that
sharp and efficacious hypodermic needle, her sting.[85]

[85] As a matter of fact I have kept Argiope under observation in this
anaesthetized condition for _thirteen weeks_.--W.

Each variety of masons uses a different spider; the common blue mason is
partial to the beautiful Argiope, which, banded as it is with gray and
yellow, is a very conspicuous object when seen on its glistening,
upright web.

The wasp larva, as soon as it emerges from the egg-membrane, finds fresh
and palatable food before its very nose, and at once begins to eat.

In the case of the male larvae, five spiders are deposited in each cell,
while eight are always placed in the female compartments.[86] If one or
more spiders are removed from the cell, the mother wasp does not appear
to notice that her food-supply has been tampered with; she completes her
quota, five for the males and eight for the females, and then closes the
cell, no matter if there remains in the compartment one, two, or three
spiders. Her count calls for five or eight, as the case may be, and,
when she has put on top of the egg the requisite number according to her
count, her responsibility ceases.

[86] Compare Kirby and Spence, _Entomology_, pp. 231, 232, habits of
_Epipone spinipes_ in regard to small grubs.

I have never known a mud-dauber to make a mistake in her computation,
although I have endeavored to puzzle this little arithmetician time and
again. If a wad of paper be placed in a cell after two or three spiders
have been deposited, thus partially filling it, the insect knows at once
that something is wrong, and will proceed to investigate. She will
remove the spiders on top of the paper, will extract the wad, and will
then proceed with her count. On the other hand, if several spiders be
taken out when the count calls for only one or two more, the wasp does
not appear to notice that the cell is almost empty; she finishes her
count as if everything were correct, and then seals up the opening with
mud.

The quail lays some twelve or fifteen eggs, and seems to be aware of the
fact that some of her eggs are missing when several have been removed
from the nest. When one of these birds has laid six or eight eggs, if
two or three be removed she will abandon the nest and deposit the
remainder of her eggs elsewhere. This behavior on the part of the bird
has been at