f The Climbing-Instinct 145 



longevity. She leaves the natal wallet early 

 one spring and never sees the following spring. 

 This wallet, which contains the eggs, has none 

 of the ingenious structure which we admired 

 in the Banded and in the Silky Epeira. No 

 longer do we see a graceful balloon-shape nor 

 yet a paraboloid with a starry base ; no longer 

 a tough, waterproof satin stuff ; no longer a 

 swan's-down resembling a fleecy, russet cloud ; 

 no longer an inner keg in which the eggs are 

 packed. The art of stout fabrics and of walls 

 within walls is unknown here. 



The work of the Cross Spider is a pill of white 

 silk, wrought into a yielding felt, through which 

 the new-born Spiders will easily work their way, 

 without the aid of the mother, long since dead, 

 and without having to rely upon its bursting 

 at the given hour. It is about the size of a 

 damson. 



We can judge the method of manufacture 

 from the structure. Like the Lycosa, whom 

 we saw, in Chapter ill., at work in one of my 

 earthenware pans, the Cross Spider, on the 

 support supplied by a few threads stretched 

 between the nearest objects, begins by making 



K 



