xxii The Life of the Spider 



marvellous little box of snowy whiteness, which 

 our author thus describes : 



' The microscope discovers a surface engraved 

 with dents similar to those of a thimble and 

 arranged with exquisite symmetry. At the 

 top and bottom of the cylinder is a wide belt of 

 a dead black ; on the sides, a large white zone 

 with four big, black spots evenly distributed. 

 The lid, surrounded by snowy cilia and encircled 

 with white at the edge, swells into a black cap 

 with a white knot in the centre. Altogether, 

 a dismal burial urn, with the sudden contrast 

 between the dead black and the fleecy white. 

 The funeral pottery of the ancient Etruscans 

 would have found a magnificent model here.' 



The little bug, whose forehead is too soft, 

 covers her head, to raise the lid of the box, 

 with a mitre formed of three triangular rods, 

 which is always at the bottom of the ^^% at 

 the moment of dehvery. Her Hmbs being 

 sheathed Uke those of a mummy, she has 

 nothing wherewith to put her tringles in 

 motion except the pulsations produced by the 



