The Narbonne Lycosa: The Family 



her handiwork and do not contain her off- 

 spring. With a zeal which even the addi- 

 tional labour laid upon her does not easily 

 weary, she removes the mildew from the alien 

 dung-balls, which far exceed the regular nests 

 in number; she gently scrapes and polishes and 

 repairs them; she listens to them attentively 

 and enquires by ear into each nursling's prog- 

 ress. Her real collection could not receive 

 greater care. Her own family or another's: 

 it is all one to her. 



The Lycosa is equally indifferent. I take 

 a hair-pencil and sweep the living burden 

 from one of my Spiders, making it fall close 

 to another covered with her little ones. The 

 evicted youngsters scamper about, find the 

 new mother's legs outspread, nimbly clamber 

 up these and mount on the back of the oblig- 

 ing creature, who quietly lets them have 

 their way. They slip in among the others, 

 or, when the layer is too thick, push to the 

 front and pass from the abdomen to the 

 thorax and even to the head, though leaving 

 the region of the eyes uncovered. It does not 

 do to blind the bearer: the common safety de- 

 mands that. They know this and respect the 

 lenses of the eyes, however populous the as- 



159 



