The Crab Spider 187 



After all, this cutter of Bees' throats is a 

 pretty, a very pretty creature, despite her un- 

 wieldy paunch fashioned like a squat pyramid 

 and embossed on the base, on either side, with a 

 pimple shaped like a camel's hump. The skin, 

 more pleasing to the eye than any satin, is 

 milk-white in some, in others lemon-yellow. 

 There are fine ladies among them who adorn 

 their legs with a number of pink bracelets and 

 their back with carmine arabesques. A narrow 

 pale-green ribbon sometimes edges the right 

 and left of the breast. It is not so rich as the 

 costume of the Banded Epeira, but much more 

 elegant because of its soberness, its daintiness 

 and the artful blending of its hues. Novice 

 fingers, which shrink from touching any other 

 Spider, allow themselves to be enticed by these 

 attractions ; they do not fear to handle the 

 beauteous Thomisus, so gentle in appearance. 



Well, what can this gem among Spiders do ? 

 In the first place, she makes a nest worthy of 

 its architect. With twigs and horse-hair and 

 bits of wool, the Goldfinch, the Chaffinch and 

 other masters of the builder's art construct an 

 aerial bower in the fork of the branches. Her- 



