Thanks, Ozzy;
from that link, here is a nice image of the silver reflections in a wolf spider's eyes
http://www.amonline.net.au/spiders/t....htm#reflector

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Orion's Arm . The Starlark . Voices: Future Tense- Novella Contest Issue! . OA Flickr set

Spiders, Thousands of 'em! Don't run till you see the silver of their eyes.

What Triangleman said, I'm staying indoors, shivering

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N6MAA10816
Faber '62 ΔTX
Are you a Bright?

As my Mom and Stepfather are getting on in years I go up to their house to do the gardening a couple times a week. After getting the sprinklers going I took shelter in the screened in patio and relaxed. I kept hearing that distinctive buzz of an insect trapped in a web but it would stop by the time I got up to look. When I finaly found out what was happening I was stunned.

The local mud daubers had learned a new trick.

Now for those that don't know, mud daubers are wasps that have those extra long hind legs. They gather up balls of mud to make nurseries for their young. Even though there is a couple of hundred species they mainly come in two types. Those that parasitize cutworms and those that parasitize spiders. As I know from a lot of reading mud daubers are some of the least likely of the vespids to sting so I never molest them when the come to my yard when I water, seeking mud.

What they were doing today was flying up to an orb weaver web, and using those long hind legs were grabbing the vertical, (non-sticky) spokes and vibrating their wings! The resident spider would race out of hiding, go to the center of it web and the mud dauber would pluck it out and fly off with it. I watched as they cleared out the entire overhang around the patio.

Just like on the Discovery Channel!

BD

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Gimme a minute to read through Jay's latest observations...

i have seen this bug.....thing before. i havent a clue is to what it was but i have found two of them. it was almost like a cocoon. it looked like.....like.. a cigar but much shorter. but only the head ( im pretty sure it was the front of it) was like a cigar. it was about 3 inches long a third of it looked like the part of a cigar you put in your mouth. it had...like... indentions on it you could see something like eyes..ears maybe..it was a like a fossil indention in a rock an imprint but it bludged out not much at all. but that was only a third of the body the rest of it was a cone. with lumps on it i mean like...)))))))) like that!! but place ")" horisonally do you understand ?? i hope so. but yes, at the very end there was a stinger i dont know if it stung because i was to scared to touch it. this " funnel" tail. it moved. in all direction but it was limited like....um..hm..i cant explain it...it was almost like a rattle snake tail. the movement i mean. it couldnt move as fast as a raddle snakes tail but it could go side to side. it responded to my touch. the cigar part was actually soft...kinda soft. i could squeese on it alil and i could feel it bend, ya know..ive never in my life ever seen anything like that before...besides the second time i saw it but besides that i havent seen it again. the first one i found laying on the ground by a tree. i forget where i found thge second one. i brought it to my biology class and the teacher didnt know what it was either. i dont have a point to this reply i just wanted to tell you all

Hmm; perhaps a devil's coach horse or its larva?
(a Rove Beetle)
one of these?
or these?

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Orion's Arm . The Starlark . Voices: Future Tense- Novella Contest Issue! . OA Flickr set

no, thats not it. it didnt have any arms or legs. im sure it was a larva thou. the second one i found i had to take it apart....it has feelers wings and i think legs( under its shell like covering) but in its larva state it had no limbs. every one send me a pic of what you might think it is. ill know it when i see it, i looked around myself, i couldnt find a picture