Narbonne Lycosa; Climbing-Instinct 



together and make a common rampart of their 

 backs. 



The assembly into a ball-shaped mass is 

 also the rule in calm, bright weather, after 

 the morning's exertions. In the afternoon, the 

 climbers collect at a higher point, where they 

 weave a wide, conical tent, with the end of a 

 shoot for its top, and, gathered into a com- 

 pact group, spend the night there. Next day, 

 when the heat returns, the ascent is resumed in 

 long files, following the shrouds which a few 

 pioneers have rigged and which those who 

 come after elaborate with their own work. 



Assembled nightly into a globular troop 

 and sheltered under a fresh tent for three or 

 four days, each morning, before the sun grows 

 too hot, my little emigrants thus raise them- 

 selves, stage by stage, on both bamboos, until 

 they reach the summit, at fifteen feet above 

 the ground. The climb comes to an end for 

 lack of foothold. 



Under normal conditions, the ascent would 

 be shorter. The young Spiders have at their 

 disposal the bushes, the brushwood, providing 

 supports on every side for the threads wafted 

 hither and thither by the eddying air-currents. 

 With these rope-bridges flung across space, the 



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