The Life of the Spider 



The hatching takes place early. November 

 has not arrived before the pockets contain 

 the young : wee things clad in black, with five 

 yellow specks, exactly like their elders. The 

 new-born do not leave their respective nur- 

 series. Packed close together, they spend the 

 whole of the wintry season there, while the 

 mother, squatting on the pile of cells, watches 

 over the general safety, without knowing her 

 family other than by the gentle trepidations 

 felt through the partitions of the tiny cham- 

 bers. The Labyrinth Spider has shown us 

 how she maintains a permanent sitting for 

 two months in her guard-room, to defend, in 

 case of need, the brood which she will never 

 see. The Clotho does the same during eight 

 months, thus earning the right to set eyes for 

 a little while on her family trotting around 

 her in the main cabin and to assist at the final 

 exodus, the great journey undertaken at the 

 end of a thread. 



When the summer heat arrives, in June, the 

 young ones, probably aided by their mother, 

 pierce the walls of their cells, leave the 

 maternal tent, of which they know the secret 

 outlet well, take the air on the threshold for 

 a few hours and then fly away, carried to some 



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