the ground brought him into continual
danger of contact with the snatching jaws of the cave-dwelling tiger,
from which, however, he somehow escaped, though I distinctly heard the
occasional clicking of the eager jaws.

[Illustration]

With short abrupt flights or agile runs of a few inches, accompanied by
nervous periodic flirts of the folded wings, the insect had covered
pretty much of the ground in a short time, until she at length appeared
to have discovered the object of her search, as she withdrew from
beneath a sorrel leaf a big fat spider several times as large as
herself. Its legs were folded beneath its body, and it was perfectly
plain that this was not the first time that it had been in the toils of
the wasp, which had evidently stung it into submission and stupor some
minutes previous. Tugging bravely at her charge, the little black Amazon
dragged her burden nimbly over the ground, pulling it after her in
entire disregard of obstacles, now this way, now that, with the same
exasperating disregard of eternity which she at first displayed, and at
length deposited it on the top of a little flat weed, where it was
left, while for five minutes more she pursued the same zigzag,
apparently senseless meandering over the entire field of earth. Now she
seems again to stumble upon her neglected prey, and taking it once more
in her formidable jaws, she lugs it again for a long helter-skelter
jaunt, this time depositing it in the neighborhood of a hole, which at
first sight might have been considered an "ant-hole," from the debris
which lay scattered about in its vicinity. After considerable needless
delay, she is seen for once motionless, so far as her legs are
concerned, but with her head over the tunnel, while, with flipping wings
and rapidly waving antennae, she investigates its depths. Satisfied that
all is well, she again reaches her drowsy spider, by a tangled circuit
of about a quarter of a mile--wasp measurement--and taking the victim in
her teeth for the third time, finally succeeds in reaching the burrow,
into which, without a particle of ceremony, she instantly retreats,
dragging her helpless burden after her. Both wasp and spider are soon
out of sight, and so remain perhaps for a space of two minutes, when the
tips of the nervous antennae appear at the doorway and the wasp emerges.
What now follows is most curious and interesting. With an energy and
directness in striking contrast to her previous proceedings