Chapter xv 



THE LABYRINTH SPIDER 



While the Epeirse, with their gorgeous net- 

 tapestries, are incomparable weavers, many 

 other Spiders excel in ingenious devices for 

 filling their stomachs and leaving a lineage 

 behind them : the two primary laws of living 

 things. Some of them are celebrities of long- 

 standing renown, who are mentioned in all the 

 books. 



Certain Mygales ^ inhabit a burrow, like the 

 Narbonne Lycosa, but of a perfection unknown 

 to the brutal Spider of the waste-lands. The 

 Lycosa surrounds the mouth of her shaft with 

 a simple parapet, a mere collection of tiny 

 pebbles, sticks and silk ; the others fix a movable 

 door to theirs, a round shutter with a hinge, a 

 groove and a set of bolts. When the Mygale 



* Or Bird Spiders, known also as the American Tarantula. — 

 Translator'' s Note. 



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