The Clot ho Spider 351 



These ruins are so close-welded to the rest of the 

 home that my forceps cannot extract them 

 without difficulty ; and to remove them would 

 be an exhausting business for the Clotho and 

 possibly beyond her strength. It is a case of 

 the resistance of Gordian knots, which not even 

 the very spinstress who fastened them is capable 

 of untying. The encumbering litter, therefore, 

 will remain. 



If the Spider were to stay alone, the reduction 

 of space, when all is said, would hardly matter 

 to her : she wants so little room, merely enough 

 to move in ! Besides, when you have spent 

 seven or eight months in the cramping pre- 

 sence of those bed-chambers, what can be the 

 reason of a sudden need for greater space ? 

 I see but one : the Spider requires a roomy 

 habitation, not for herself — ^she is satisfied with 

 the smallest den — ^but for a second family. 

 Where is she to place the pockets of eggs, 

 if the ruins of the previous laying remain in 

 the way ? A new brood requires a new home. 

 That, no doubt, is why, feeling that her ovaries 

 are not yet dried up, the Spider shifts her 

 quarters and founds a new establishment. 



