The Labyrinth Spider 



part of the old dwelling is repeated: even the 

 labyrinth, though this, it is true, is on a much 

 smaller scale. In front of the bell-shaped 

 mouth is a tangle of threads wherein the 

 passers-by are caught. Each species, in this 

 way, possesses a primary architectural model 

 which is followed as a whole, in spite of 

 altered conditions. The animal knows its 

 trade thoroughly, but it does not know and 

 will never know aught else, being incapable of 

 originality. 



Now this palace of silk, when all is said, is 

 nothing more than a guard-house. Behind the 

 soft, milky opalescence of the wall glimmers 

 the egg-tabernacle, with its form vaguely sug- 

 gesting the star of some order of knighthood. 

 It is a large pocket, of a splendid dead-white, 

 isolated on every side by radiating pillars 

 which keep it motionless in the centre of the 

 tapestry. These pillars are about ten in num- 

 ber and are slender in the middle, expanding 

 at one end into a conical capital and at the 

 other into a base of the same shape. They 

 face one another and mark the position of the 

 vaulted corridors which allow free movement 

 in every direction around the central chamber. 

 The mother walks gravely to and fro under 



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