268 The Life of the Spider 



Even so. I see hastening up from the neigh- 

 bouring bushes and embarking on the cable a 

 male, a dwarf, who is coming, the whipper- 

 snapper, to pay his respects to the portly 

 giantess. How has he, in his distant comer, 

 heard of the presence of the nymph ripe for 

 marriage ? Among the Spiders, these things 

 are learnt in the silence of the night, without a 

 summons, without a signal, none knows how. 



Once, the Great Peacock,^ apprised by the 

 magic effluvia, used to come from miles around 

 to visit the recluse in her bell- jar in my study. 

 The dwarf of this evening, that other nocturnal 

 pilgrim, crosses the intricate tangle of the 

 branches without a mistake and makes straight 

 for the rope-walker. He has as his guide the 

 infallible compass that brings every Jack and 

 his Jill together. 



He climbs the slope of the suspension-cord ; 

 he advances circumspectly, step by step. He 

 stops some distance away, irresolute. Shall he 

 go closer ? Is this the right moment ? No. 

 The other lifts a limb and the scared visitor 



^ Cf. Social Life in the Insect World, by J. H. Fabre, translated 

 by Bernard Miall : chap. xiv. — Translator's Note. 



