This she dabs upon the plastic
foundation, and continues the apparently rude operation until
some twenty or thirty pills of clay are adhering at equal
distances. She then forms these into a number of neat
oval-shaped cells, about the size of a wren's egg, and in each
cell she deposits one egg. She then flies off in search of
spiders, which are to be laid tip in stores within the cells as
food for the young larvae, when hatched.
Now the transition from the larva to the fly takes place in the
cell, and occupies about six weeks from the time the egg is first
laid; thus, as the egg itself is not vivified for some weeks
after it is deposited, the spiders have to be preserved in a
sound and fresh state during that interval until the larva is in
such an advanced stage as to require food.
In a tropical country every one knows that a very few hours
occasion the putrefaction of all dead animal substances;
nevertheless these spiders are to be kept fresh and good, like
our tins of preserved meats, to be eaten when required.
One, two, or even three spiders, according to their size, the
mason-fly deposits in each cell, and then closes it hermetically
with clay. The spiders she has pounced upon while sunning
themselves in the centre of their delicate nets, and they are
hurried off in a panic to be converted into preserved provisions.
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