158 The Life of the Spider 



In the middle of this downy mass hangs 

 a fine, silk, thimble-shaped purse, closed with 

 a movable lid. This contains the eggs, of a 

 pretty orange-yellow and about five hundred 

 in number. 



All things considered, is not this charming 

 edifice an animal fruit, a germ-casket, a capsule 

 to be compared with that of the plants ? Only, 

 the Epeira's wallet, instead of seeds, holds eggs. 

 The difference is more apparent than real, for 

 ^^g and grain are one. 



How will this living fruit, ripening in the 

 heat beloved of the Cicadae, manage to burst ? 

 How, above all, will dissemination take place ? 

 They are there in their hundreds. They must 

 separate, go far away, isolate themselves in a 

 spot where there is not too much fear of com- 

 petition among neighbours. How will they set 

 to work to achieve this distant exodus, weak- 

 lings that they are, taking such very tiny steps ? 



I receive the first answer from another and 

 much earlier Epeira, whose family I find, at 

 the beginning of May, on a yucca in the en- 

 closure. The plant blossomed last year. The 

 branching flower-stem, some three feet high. 



