MY SPIDER. 517 



the building. This I surmised was a deposit of eggs, and I afterward 

 found that I was right. 



Still, I had named the animal ; and, on the principle of the parson 

 who insisted on christening the little girl John, I adhered to the origi- 

 nal appellation. Hitherto the spider had discovered none of the at- 

 tributes proverbial to her sex, and I did not feel justified in naming 

 her Lucy or Maria. 



There were warm days that year, when the air smelled of clover, 

 and flies came out plentifully, and Esau was fed on all available insects 

 that had wings. The house-fly was her staple food, although she re- 

 garded small moths as delicacies, and thought midges and small gnats 

 were toothsome articles of diet ; but her soul loathed blue-bottles. 

 They were to her what caviare and absinthe are to the uneducated. 

 If a blue-bottle was put into her net she bound it down with many 

 strands of cobweb, and killed it, and, before the animal had ceased to 

 quiver, cast it from her web with evident repugnance. Beetles she 

 did not care for, as they broke her web ; but money-spinners she tol- 

 erated. Daddy-long-legs fell an easy prey to her, although she did 

 not relish them. That I know, because she never took their carcasses 

 to her cave. 



By way of a treat I once offered her a small earth-worm. It wrig- 

 gled and writhed, lengthened itself and shortened itself, assumed the 

 shape of a corkscrew, and tied itself up into knots. Esau sought 

 refuge in her house, and stuck her head out to watch these strange 

 manoeuvres. At first, she was as still as possible ; then there was an 

 oscillatory movement of the palpi. She generally did that when she 

 was getting up her pluck. Then she made a rapid rush to within an 

 inch of the worm, and reconnoitred again. She was not satisfied, and 

 retired a second time to think the matter out. The worm, in the 

 mean time, either got tired of struggling, or else philosophically arrived 

 at the conclusion that he could make himself as comfortable in a cob- 

 web as in any other place. The period of rest was fatal. Esau darted 

 on her prey and stuck her mandibles into him. Vainly did the worm 

 try to charm the enemy by tickling her with the end of his tail. Esau 

 held on like a vice. The worm tried to encircle her body with furtive 

 gyrations. Esau had no inclination to play at Laocoon, and eluded 

 the strategy of his prey. That worm gave in. 



I began to get tired of my pet. She was getting fat ; and the 

 fatter she grew the more ferocious she became. I sought another 

 spider, and found one smaller than the one I possessed. To my mind 

 it was of the same species, but from its size I imagined it was a male. 

 " I will be the historian of the loves of spiders," I said. " Their do- 

 mestic happiness shall be a moral to mankind. Two spiders together 

 will give me an opportunity of making fresh observations." 



I was not disappointed, but my researches gave a result that I had 

 not anticipated. \ 



