84 The Life of the Spider 



among them, it is seldom that the Lycosa re- 

 covers her own property. Attempts at enquiry, 

 attempts at selection there are none. What- 

 ever she snaps up at random she sticks to, be 

 it good or bad. As there are more of the sham 

 pills of cork, these are the most often seized 

 by the Spider. 



This obtuseness baffles me. Can the animal 

 be deceived by the soft contact of the cork ? 

 I replace the cork balls by pellets of cotton or 

 paper, kept in their round shape with a few 

 bands of thread. Both are very readily accepted 

 instead of the real bag that has been removed. 



Can the illusion be due to the colouring, 

 which is light in the cork and not unlike the 

 tint of the silk globe when soiled with a little 

 earth, while it is white in the paper and the 

 cotton, when it is identical with that of the 

 original pill ? I give the Lycosa, in exchange 

 for her work, a pellet of silk thread, chosen of 

 a fine red, the brightest of all colours. The 

 uncommon pill is as readily accepted and as 

 jealously guarded as the others. 



We will leave the wallet-bearer alone ; we 

 know all that we want to know about her 



