1 66 THOSE OTHER ANIMALS. 



attained to greater strength than is possessed by their 

 mates, they now revenge upon them the wrongs of their 

 far back ancestors. We do not assert that this is absolutely' 

 the true explanation of their conduct ; but it is clear that 

 some events of an altogether exceptional kind must have 

 occurred in the history of the spider to bring about so 

 unexampled and unnatural a state of things among the two 

 sexes, and to embitter to such a degree the female against 

 the male. It is lamentable to have to record so evil a 

 trait in the character of one of the most intelligent and 

 intellectual of insects, but it would be unfair to other and 

 less highly gifted creatures were we to pass it over in 

 silence. 



