30 TENANTS OF AN OLD FARM. 



water-vessels, I have seen a large woven l)owl in which 

 meats were boiled, the water having been heated by hot 

 stones. They were perfectly water-tight. Tliat is an 

 admirable example of ingenuity in weaving ; but Bank 

 Argiope has approached it. The outside of her cocoon 

 is usually tough and glazed, and effectually repels moist- 

 ure. I have opened many and never found the slightest 

 evidence that rain or snow or sleet had made an entrance. 

 It is a strong case of forecast, certainly, although I am 

 not prepared to say that the forecast abides in the brain- 

 cells of the mother aranead. At all events, mother-love 

 has met the difficulties as if they had been antici- 

 pated." 



" Perhaps," suggested Abby reverently, "we are here 

 on the track of an infinite forecast ? How is the in- 

 terior of the egg-sac furnished ?" 



" Suppose we look. We may devote this example to 

 science and dissect it. As I open it Avith my knife, thus, 

 you observe that the glaze lies upon the surface of a soft, 

 yellow, silken plush, the whole forming the outer wall. 

 Within that there is a mass of purple silk floss — raw 

 silk, you might say — which evidently acts as a blanket- 

 ing to the egg mass within. The eggs are yellow globules, 

 sometimes several hundred in number, deposited under- 

 neath a plate-like cushion, and swathed with a white 

 silken sheet. Thus the young spiderlings are snugly 

 blanketed and tucked away aw'aiting their deliverance 

 from the nursery at the coming of spring." 



"But does the mother leave the little fellows there 

 without any provison for them ?" 



