no The Life of the Spider 



the Spider, who appears to be so badly off for 

 tools ; she would only have to enlarge it and 

 put it in order. I was wrong : the burrow is 

 excavated, from start to finish, by her unaided 

 labour. 



Then where are the digging-implements ? 

 We think of the legs, of the claws. We think 

 of them, but reflection tells us that tools such 

 as these would not do : they are too long and 

 too difficult to wield in a confined space. What 

 is required is the miner's short-handled pick, 

 wherewith to drive hard, to insert, to lever and 

 to extract ; what is required is the sharp point 

 that enters the earth and crumbles it into 

 fragments. There remain the Lycosa's fangs, 

 delicate weapons which we at first hesitate 

 to associate with such work, so illogical does it 

 seem to dig a pit with surgeon's scalpels. 



The fangs are a pair of sharp, curved points, 

 which, when at rest, crook like a finger and take 

 shelter between two strong pillars. The Cat 

 sheathes her claws under the velvet of the 

 paw, to preserve their edge and sharpness. In 

 the same way, the Lycosa protects her poisoned 

 daggers by folding them within the case of two 



