Chapter viii 



THE CRAB SPIDER 



The Spider that showed me the exodus in all 

 its magnificence is known officially as Thomisus 

 onustus, Walck. Though the name suggest 

 nothing to the reader's mind, it has the ad- 

 vantage, at any rate, of hurting neither the 

 throat nor the ear, as is too often the case with 

 scientific nomenclature, which sounds more 

 like sneezing than articulate speech. Since it 

 is the rule to dignify plants and animals with a 

 Latin label, let us at least respect the euphony 

 of the classics and refrain from harsh splutters 

 which spit out a name instead of pronouncing it. 

 What will posterity do in face of the rising 

 tide of a barbarous vocabulary which, under 

 the pretence of progress, stifles real knowledge ? 

 It will relegate the whole business to the quag- 

 mire of oblivion. But what will never disappear 

 is the popular name, which sounds well, is 



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