320 The Life of the Spider 



she listens to all that happens inside the satin 

 wrapper. To disturb her would be barbarous. 



For a closer examination, let us use the 

 dilapidated nests which we brought from the 

 fields. Apart from its pillars, the egg-pocket 

 is an inverted conoid, reminding us of the work 

 of the Silky Epeira. Its material is rather 

 stout ; my pincers, pulling at it, do not tear 

 it without difficulty. Inside the bag there is 

 nothing but an extremely fine, white wadding 

 and, lastly, the eggs, numbering about a hundred 

 and comparatively large, for they measure a 

 millimetre and a half.^ They are very pale 

 amber-yellow beads, which do not stick together 

 and which roll freely as soon as I remove the 

 swan's-down shroud. Let us put everything 

 into a glass-tube to study the hatching. 



We will now retrace our steps a little. When 

 laying-time comes, the mother forsakes her 

 dwelling, her crater into which her falling 

 victims dropped, her labyrinth in which the 

 flight of the Midges was cut short ; she leaves 

 intact the apparatus that enabled her to live 

 at her ease. Thoughtful of her natural duties, 



^ '059 inch. — Translator's Note. 



