332 The Life of the Spider 



neighbourhood. The operation would be im- 

 possible if, after cementing each grain of sand, 

 it were necessary to stop the work of the 

 spinnerets and go to a distance to fetch further 

 stony elements. Those materials have to be 

 right under her legs ; otherwise the Spider does 

 without and continues her work just the same. 



In my cages, the sand is too far off. To 

 obtain it, the Spider would have to leave the 

 top of the dome, where the nest is being built 

 on its trellis-work support ; she would have to 

 come down some nine inches. The worker 

 refuses to take this trouble, which, if repeated 

 in the case of each grain, would make the 

 action of the spinnerets too irksome. She also 

 refuses to do so when, for reasons which I have 

 not fathomed, the site chosen is some way up 

 in the tuft of rosemary. But, when the nest 

 touches the ground, the claj^ rampart is never 

 missing. 



Are we to see in this fact proof of an instinct 

 capable of modification, either making for 

 decadence and gradually neglecting what was 

 the ancestors' safeguard, or making for progress 

 and advancing, hesitatingly, towards perfection 



