The Life of the Spider 



ably be expected from the eminently earthly 

 habits of the Lycosae; all ascend the dome, a 

 strange procedure whereof I do not yet guess 

 the object. I receive a hint from the upright 

 ring that finishes the top of the cage. The 

 youngsters hurry to it. It represents the 

 porch of their gymnasium. They hang out 

 threads across the opening; they stretch others 

 from the ring to the nearest points of the trel- 

 lis-work. On these foot-bridges they perform 

 slack-rope exercises amid endless comings and 

 goings. The tiny legs open out from time to 

 time and straddle as though to reach the most 

 distant points. I begin to realize that they 

 are acrobats aiming at loftier heights than 

 those of the dome. 



I top the trellis with a branch that doubles 

 the attainable height. The bustling crowd 

 hastily scrambles up it, reaches the tip of the 

 topmost twigs and thence sends out threads 

 that attach themselves to every surrounding 

 object. These form so many suspension- 

 bridges; and my beasties nimbly run along 

 them, incessantly passing to and fro. One 

 would say that they wished to climb higher 

 still. I will endeavour to satisfy their desires. 



I take a nine-foot reed, with tiny branches 



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