Garden Spiders: Pairing and Hunting 



cable a male, a dwarf, who is coming, the 

 whipper-snapper, to pay his respects to the 

 portly giantess. How has he, in his distant 

 corner, heard of the presence of the nymph 

 ripe for marriage? Among the Spiders, these 

 things are learnt in the silence of the night, 

 without a summons, without a signal, none 

 knows how. 



Once, the Great Peacock, 1 apprised by the 

 magic effluvia, used to come from miles 

 around to visit the recluse in her bell-jar in my 

 study. The dwarf of this evening, that other 

 nocturnal pilgrim, crosses the intricate tangle 

 of the branches without a mistake and makes 

 straight for the rope-walker. He has as his 

 guide the infallible compass that brings every 

 Jack and his Jill together. 



He climbs the slope of the suspension- 

 cord; he advances circumspectly, step by step. 

 He stops some distance away, irresolute. 

 Shall he go closer? Is this the right moment? 

 No. The other lifts a limb and the scared 

 visitor hurries down again. Recovering from 

 his fright, he climbs up once more, draws a 



1 Cf. Social Life in the Insect World, by J. H. Fabre, 

 translated by Bernard Miall : chap. xiv. — Translator's 

 Note. 



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