i6o The Life of the Spider 



What is wanted is a peaceful atmosphere and 

 the quiet of my study. 



I gather the family in a large box, which I 

 close at once, and instal it in the animals' 

 laboratory, on a small table, two steps from the 

 open window. Apprised by what I have just 

 seen of their propensity to resort to the heights, 

 I give my subjects a bundle of twigs, eighteen 

 inches tall, as a climbing-pole. The whole band 

 hurriedly clambers up and reaches the top. In 

 a few moments there is not one lacking in the 

 group on high. The future will tell us the 

 reason of this assemblage on the projecting 

 tips of the twigs. 



The little Spiders are now spinning here and 

 there at random : they go up, go down, come 

 up again. Thus is woven a light veil of diver- 

 gent threads, a many-cornered web with the 

 end of the branch for its summit and the edge 

 of the table for its base, some eighteen inches 

 wide. This veil is the drill-ground, the work- 

 yard where the preparations for departure are 

 made. 



Here hasten the humble little creatures, 

 running indefatigably to and fro. When the 



