IN OCTOBER 



191 



ing I found the parlor floor covered with witch- 

 hazel seeds. I picked them up and counted twenty. 



I was about to leave the witch-hazel and follow 

 the course of Clear Brook, when my attention was 

 called to a number of small brown discs 

 suspended among the branches of the 

 shrub. In these I recognized the "nur- 

 sery" of a spider, and 

 concluded to investigate 

 farther. There were five 

 little packages done up in 

 dull silk wrappings and 

 hung one above another 

 on a slender, almost invisi- 

 ble framework of threads. 

 The spider had evidently 

 not finished her work, as 

 there she was clinging 

 just below the last of the 

 little cases. These cases 

 were the sacs or cocoons 

 that held her eggs, and 

 she did well to suspend 

 them thus out of harm's 

 way. The cables which 

 supported them were heavy and firm, and 

 securely fastened to the branches. They 

 were so placed that the egg-sacs were sus- 

 pended in mid-air, some distance from any 

 branch. A marauder must be keen of vision and 

 light of foot to find her treasures. In front of 



THE WINTER 



NURSERY OF THE 



LABYRINTH 



SPIDER 



