350 The Life of the Spider 



ance suggest great length of life, capable of pro- 

 ducing a second family. On this subject I have 

 but one document, a pretty far-reaching one, 

 however. There were a few mothers whose 

 actions I had the patience to watch, despite the 

 wearisome minutiae of the rearing and the slow- 

 ness of the result. These abandoned their 

 dwellings after the departure of their young ; 

 and each went to weave a new one for herself 

 on the wire net-work of the cage. 



They were rough-and-ready summaries, the 

 work of a night. Two hangings, one above the 

 other, the upper one flat, the lower concave and 

 ballasted with stalactites of grains of sand, 

 formed the new home, which, strengthened 

 daily by fresh layers, promised to become 

 similar to the old one. Why does the Spider 

 desert her former mansion, which is in no way 

 dilapidated — far from it — and still exceedingly 

 serviceable, as far as one can judge ? Unless I 

 am mistaken, I think I have an inkling of the 

 reason. 



The old cabin, comfortably wadded though 

 it be, possesses serious disadvantages : it is 

 littered with the ruins of the children's nurseries. 



