The Question of Property 295 



ations among such as are not akin. What 

 would happen if the two belonged to the same 

 species ? It is easily seen. I cannot rely upon 

 spontaneous invasions, which may be rare under 

 normal conditions, and I myself place a Banded 

 Epeira on her kinswoman's web. A furious 

 attack is made forthwith. Victory, after hang- 

 ing for a moment in the balance, is once again 

 decided in the stranger's favour. The van- 

 quished party, this time a sister, is eaten with- 

 out the slightest scruple. Her web becomes 

 the property of the victor. 



There it is, in all its horror, the right of 

 might : to eat one's like and take away their 

 goods. Man did the same in days of old : he 

 stripped and ate his fellows. We continue 

 to rob one another, both as nations and as in- 

 dividuals ; but we no longer eat one another : 

 the custom has grown obsolete since we dis- 

 covered an acceptable substitute in the mutton- 

 chop. 



Let us not, however, blacken the Spider 

 beyond her deserts. She does not live by war- 

 ring on her kith and kin ; she does not of her 

 own accord attempt the conquest of another's 



