The Burrow 109 



joys of the sun. That is much better than 

 solitary meditation at the bottom of a well. 

 And so it is not rare to see young mothers 

 dragging their bag of eggs, or even already 

 carrying their family, and as yet without a home. 



In October, it is time to settle down. We 

 then, in fact, find two sorts of burrows, which 

 differ in diameter. The larger, bottle-neck 

 burrows belong to the old matrons, who have 

 owned their house for two years at least. The 

 smaller, of the width of a thick lead-pencil, 

 contain the young mothers, born that year. 

 By dint of long and leisurely alterations, the 

 novice's earths will increase in depth as well as 

 in diameter and become roomy abodes, similar 

 to those of the grandmothers. In both, we 

 find the owner and her family, the latter some- 

 times already hatched and sometimes still 

 enclosed in the satin wallet. 



Seeing no digging-tools, such as the excava- 

 tion of the dwelling seemed to me to require, I 

 wondered whether the Lycosa might not avail 

 herself of some chance gallery, the work of the 

 Cicada or the Earth-worm. This ready-made 

 tunnel, thought I, must shorten the labours of 



