The Life of the Spider 



For two whole months, they remain clois- 

 tered; and, with their paunches proportion- 

 ately hollowing out the inexhaustible sphere, 

 definite archetypes and sovereign symbols of 

 the pleasures of the table and the gaiety of 

 the belly, they eat without stopping, without 

 interrupting themselves for a second, day or 

 night. And, while they gorge, steadily, with 

 a movement perceptible and constant as that 

 of a clock, at the rate of three millimetres a 

 minute, an endless, unbroken ribbon unwinds 

 and stretches itself behind them, fixing the 

 memory and recording the hours, days and 

 weeks of the prodigious feast. 



After the Dung-beetle, that dolt of the 

 company, let us greet, also in the order of the 

 Coleoptera, the model household of the Min- 

 otaurus typhaus, which is pretty well-known 

 and extremely gentle, in spite of its dreadful 

 name. The female digs a huge burrow 

 which is often more than a yard and a half 

 deep and which consists of spiral staircases, 

 landings, passages and numerous chambers. 



14 



