The Labyrinth Spider 333 



in the mason's art ? No inference is permissible 

 in either direction. The Labyrinth Spider has 

 simply taught us that instinct possesses re- 

 sources which are employed or left latent 

 according to the conditions of the moment. 

 Place sand under her legs and the spinstress 

 will knead concrete; refuse her that sand, or 

 put it out of her reach, and the Spider will 

 remain a simple silk-worker, always ready, 

 however, to turn mason under favourable con- 

 ditions. The aggregate of things that come 

 within the observer's scope proves that it were 

 mad to expect from her any further innova- 

 tions, such as would utterly change her methods 

 of manufacture and cause her, for instance, 

 to abandon her cabin, with its two entrance- 

 halls and its star-like tabernacle, in favour of 

 the Banded Epeira's pear-shaped gourd. 



