Black-bellied
Tarantula. Cf. "The Life of the Spider," by J. Henri Fabre, translated
by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos: chapter 1.--Translator's Note.)

The Ammophila's caterpillar (Cf. "The Hunting Wasps," by J. Henri Fabre,
translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos: chapters 13 and 18 to 20;
and Chapter 11 of the present volume.--Translator's Note.), the Bembex
(Cf. idem: chapter 14.--Translator's Note.), Gad-fly, the Cerceris (Cf.
idem: chapters 1 to 3.--Translator's Note.), Buprestis (A Beetle
usually remarkable for her brilliant colouring. Cf. idem: chapter
1.--Translator's Note.) and Weevil, the Sphex (Cf. idem: chapter 4 to
10.--Translator's Note.), Locust, Cricket and Ephippiger (Cf. "The Life
of the Grasshopper," by J. Henri Fabre, translated by Alexander
Teixeira de Mattos: chapters 13 and 14.--Translator's Note.): all
these inoffensive peaceable victims are like the silly Sheep of our
slaughter-houses; they allow themselves to be operated upon by the
paralyser, submitting stupidly, without offering much resistance. The
mandibles gape, the legs kick and protest, the body wriggles and twists;
and that is all. They have no weapons capable of contending with the
assassin's dagger. I should like to see the huntress grappling with
an imposing adversary, one as crafty as herself, an expert layer of
ambushes and, like her, bearing a poisoned dirk. I should like to see
the bandit armed with her stiletto confronted by another bandit equally
familiar with the use of that weapon. Is such a duel possible? Yes, it
is quite possible and even quite common. On the one hand we have the
Pompili, the protagonists who are always victorious; on the other hand
we have the Spiders, the protagonists who are always overthrown.

Who that has diverted himself, however little, with the study of insects
does not know the Pompili? Against old walls, at the foot of the banks
beside unfrequented footpaths, in the stubble after the harvest, in the
tangles of dry grass, wherever the Spider spreads her nets, who has not
seen them busily at work, now running hither and thither, at random,
their wings raised and quivering above their backs, now moving from
place to place in flights long or short? They are hunting for a quarry
which might easily turn the tables and itself prey upon the trapper
lying in wait for it.

The Pompili feed their larvae solely on Spiders; and the Spiders feed on
any insect, commensurate with their size, that is caught