But Fabre’s ingenuity was equal to the occasion. It occurred to him that to use as a bait an insect of burrowing habits had been a tactical error; if instead of a bumble bee some other insect, equally formidable, but not attracted by holes in the ground, were selected for the purpose, the spider might be induced to rush forth and reveal its method of attack. A large carpenter bee—_Xylocopa_—was chosen and the mouth of the tube containing it was presented as before to the mouth of the tarantula tunnel. The insect showed no disposition to enter the tunnel, but buzzed in the tube outside. Many burrows were tested before any luck attended the investigator, but at length a spider responded. There was a fierce rush, a clinch, and the bee was dead; the operation was too rapid to follow, but the spider’s fangs remained where they had struck—embedded just behind the insect’s neck. The experiment was repeated until sufficient cases had been witnessed to establish the fact that the tarantula dealt no random stroke but with unerring precision and lightning rapidity plunged its fangs into the vital spot. Fabre quaintly exclaims “J’étais ravi de ce savoir assassin; j’étais dédommagé de mon épiderme rôti au soleil!” Examples of the same species of tarantula kept in captivity threw further light of the habits of the group. These large Lycosids live for years, and though stay-at-homes when _rangé_ so-to-speak, they are at first wanderers on the face of the earth. They do not settle down and burrow till the autumn just after they have attained maturity. These young adults are only about half the size they will eventually attain, but the burrows are enlarged at need, so that it is customary to find tubes of two sizes—those of the newly established small females, and those of the fully-grown females of two or more years old. Curiously enough, if disturbed, they entirely decline to burrow unless it be the proper season for that operation, but remain inert and helpless on the surface till they die. If, however, a tunnel is provided for them, they enter it at once and adapt it to their needs. The legs take no part in the burrowing process, which is entirely carried out by the jaws. With infinite labour small particles of earth are dislodged and carried by the mandibles to be dropped at a considerable distance from the nest.