The Life of the Spider 



then, descending to her web, she collects the 

 wreckage in great armfuls. Everything — 

 spiral, spokes and frame — is raked up with 

 her legs. One thing alone is spared and that 

 is the suspension-cable, the sturdy piece of 

 work that has served as a foundation for the 

 previous buildings and will serve for the 

 new after receiving a few strengthening 

 repairs. 



The collected ruins form a pill which the 

 Spider consumes with the same greed that she 

 would show in swallowing her prey. Noth- 

 ing remains. This is the second instance of 

 the Spiders' supreme economy of their silk. 

 We have seen them, after the manufacture of 

 the net, eating the central guide-post, a 

 modest mouthful; we now see them gobbling 

 up the whole web, a meal. Refined and 

 turned into fluid by the stomach, the materials 

 of the old net will serve for other purposes. 



As soon as the site is thoroughly cleared, 

 the work of the frame and the net begins on 

 the support of the suspension-cable which was 

 respected. Would it not be simpler to restore 

 the old web, which might serve many times 

 yet, if a few rents were just repaired? One 

 would say so; but does the Spider know how 



369 



