EXPERIMENT WITH TWO SPIDERS. 73 



itself seemed to have become a burden to her 

 since all her hopes and pleasures were gone for 

 ever." 



As this spider may be easily found in the lo- 

 calities we have mentioned, it may interest some 

 of our readers to make trial of the mother's care 

 for her eggs ; but, let us hope, only in a gentle 

 spirit. Never let us be guilty of the cruelty 

 above narrated, and leave the disconsolate mother, 

 after her hard struggle for her treasure, without 

 restoring it back to her. Even in an insect, a 

 mother's love, so faithful, self-devoted, and con- 

 stant, is a sacred thing ; and while, as an illustra- 

 tion of the care it has pleased the Creator to 

 implant in it for its offspring, it may be lawful to 

 put it to the trial, it is wrong and cruel to do 

 more. Never let us, for our own amusement, 

 give even to an insect that depth of anguish and 

 despair so beautifully expressed in the words of 

 Jacob, as translated in the margin of our Bibles : 

 ee And I, as I am bereaved of my children, I am 

 bereaved." 



" In order to prove," says the author of Insect 

 Architecture, " whether a spider of this species 

 could distinguish her own egg-bag from that of a 



