The Life of the Spider 



the air, the Spider pounces on the prey. No 

 Cat is quicker in catching her Mouse. 



But these are the feats of youth not handi- 

 capped by obesity. Later, when a heavy 

 paunch, dilated with eggs and silk, has to be 

 trailed along, those gymnastic performances 

 become impracticable. The Lycosa then digs 

 herself a settled abode, a hunting-box, and 

 sits in her watch-tower, on the look-out for 

 game. 



When and how is the burrow obtained 

 wherein the Lycosa, once a vagrant, now a 

 stay-at-home, is to spend the remainder of 

 her long life? We are in autumn, the 

 weather is already turning cool. This is how 

 the Field Cricket sets to work: as long as 

 the days are fine and the nights not too cold, 

 the future chorister of spring rambles over 

 the fallows, careless of a local habitation. At 

 critical moments, the cover of a dead leaf 

 provides him with a temporary shelter. In 

 the end, the burrow, the permanent dwell- 

 ing, is dug as the inclement season draws 

 nigh. 



The Lycosa shares the Cricket's views: 

 like him, she finds a thousand pleasures in the 

 vagabond life. With September comes the 



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