The Spiders Exodus 175 



The idea occurs off-hand that it will take 

 place along the edges of the top cover. Re- 

 member the details given in an earlier chapter. 

 The neck of the balloon ends in a wide crater, 

 which is closed by a ceiling dug out cup- wise. 

 The material is as stout in this part as in any 

 other ; but, as the Hd was the finishing touch 

 to the work, we expect to find an incomplete 

 soldering, which would allow it to be unfastened. 



The method of construction deceives us : the 

 ceiling is immovable ; at no season can my 

 forceps manage to extract it, without destroying 

 the building from top to bottom. The de- 

 hiscence takes place elsewhere, at some point 

 on the sides. Nothing informs us, nothing 

 suggests to us that it will occur at one place 

 rather than another. 



Moreover, to tell the truth, it is not a de- 

 hiscence prepared by means of some dainty 

 piece of mechanism ; it is a very irregular tear. 

 Somewhat sharply, under the fierce heat of the 

 sun, the satin bursts like the rind of an over- 

 ripe pomegranate. Judging by the result, we 

 think of the expansion of the air inside, which, 

 heated by the sun, causes this rupture. The 



