The Labyrinth Spider 329 



equivalent of the edifices built inside my cages. 

 Fastened to the creeping branch, the unsightly 

 bundle lies on the sand heaped up by the rains. 

 Oak-leaves, roughly joined by a few threads, 

 wrap it all round. One of these leaves, larger 

 than the others, roofs it in and serves as a 

 scaffolding for the whole of the ceiling. If we 

 did not see the silky remnants of the two vesti- 

 bules projecting and feel a certain resistance 

 when separating the parts of the bundle, we 

 might take the thing for a casual accumulation, 

 the work of the rain and the wind. 



Let us examine our find and look more closely 

 into its shapelessness. Here is the large room, 

 the maternal cabin, which rips as the coating 

 of leaves is removed ; here are the circular 

 galleries of the guard-room ; here are the 

 central chamber and its pillars, all in a fabric 

 of immaculate white. The dirt from the damp 

 ground has not penetrated to this dwelling pro- 

 tected by its wrapper of dead leaves. 



Now open the habitation of the offspring. 

 What is this ? To my utter astonishment, the 

 contents of the chamber are a kernel of earthy 

 matters, as though the muddy rain-water had 



