CHAPTER VI 



THE NARBONNE LYCOSA : THE CLIMBING- 

 INSTINCT 



'TVHE month of March comes to an end; 

 -*- and the departure of the youngsters 

 begins, in glorious weather, during the hottest 

 hours of the morning. Laden with her swarm- 

 ing burden, the mother Lycosa is outside her 

 burrow, squatting on the parapet at the en- 

 trance. She lets them do as they please; as 

 though indifferent to what is happening, she 

 exhibits neither encouragement nor regret. 

 Whoso will goes; whoso will remains behind. 

 First these, then those, according as they 

 feel themselves duly soaked with sunshine, 

 the little ones leave the mother in batches, run 

 about for a moment on the ground, and then 

 quickly reach the trellis-work of the cage, 

 which they climb with surprising alacrity. 

 They pass through the meshes, they clamber 

 right to the top of the citadel. All, with not 

 one exception, make for the heights, instead 

 of roaming on the ground, as might be reason- 



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