io8 The Life of the Spider 



become impracticable. The Lycosa then digs 

 herself a settled abode, a hunting-box, and sits 

 in her watch-tower, on the look-out for game. 



When and how is the burrow obtained wherein 

 the Lycosa, once a vagrant, now a stay-at-home, 

 is to spend the remainder of her long life ? We 

 are in autumn, the weather is already turning 

 cool. This is how the Field Cricket sets to 

 work : as long as the days are fine and the 

 nights not too cold, the future chorister of spring 

 rambles over the fallows, careless of a local 

 habitation. At critical moments, the cover of 

 a dead leaf provides him with a temporary 

 shelter. In the end, the burrow, the permanent 

 dwelling, is dug as the inclement season draws 

 nigh. 



The Lycosa shares the Cricket's views : like 

 him, she finds a thousand pleasures in the 

 vagabond life. With September comes the 

 nuptial badge, the black- velvet bib. The 

 Spiders meet at night, by the soft moonlight : 

 they romp together, they eat the beloved 

 shortly after the wedding ; by day, they scour 

 the country, they track the game on the short- 

 pile, grassy carpet, they take their fill of the 



