The Life of the Spider 



judge ? Unless I am mistaken, I think I have 

 an inkling of the reason. 



The old cabin, comfortably wadded though 

 it be, possesses serious disadvantages: it is 

 littered with the ruins of the children's 

 nurseries. These ruins are so close-welded to 

 the rest of the home that my forceps cannot 

 extract them without difficulty ; and to remove 

 them would be an exhausting business for the 

 Clotho and possibly beyond her strength. It 

 is a case of the resistance of Gordian knots, 

 which not even the very spinstress who 

 fastened them is capable of untying. The 

 encumbering litter, therefore, will remain. 



If the Spider were to stay alone, the re- 

 duction of space, when all is said, would 

 hardly matter to her: she wants so little 

 room, merely enough to move in ! Besides, 

 when you have spent seven or eight months in 

 the cramping presence of those bed-chambers, 

 what can be the reason of a sudden need for 

 greater space? I see but one: the Spider re- 

 quires a roomy habitation, not for herself — 

 she is satisfied with the smallest den — but for 

 a second family. Where is she to place the 

 pockets of eggs, if the ruins of the previous 

 laying remain in the way? A new brood 



376 



