266 THE HAUNTS OF LIFE 



THE BALLOONING SPIDERS 



In these parachutists, some of which have 

 their faces set towards flying, we get a glimpse 

 of what is certainly a quality of living creatures 

 the quality of endeavour and experiment, of 

 insurgence and adventure. We cannot get the 

 right word for it, because it is a characteristic 

 of life itself, asserting itself at many levels. 

 We find it among the simple primeval creatures 

 of the Open Sea, which do not form " bodies" 

 in the strict sense, but expend all their 

 endeavour in fashioning their single "cell," so 

 that it is often like a fairy palace, and is a little 

 world of internal microscopic complexity. We 

 find it in the simple sedentary creatures of the 

 shallow water, whether seaweeds or sponges, 

 zoophytes or corals, which add to the self-pre- 

 servation law of the firstlings, as Dr. Church 

 says, the second great law that no race will 

 continue unless the individual members do 

 their bit in securing its continuance. We find 

 it in the instinctive behaviour of ants and bees, 

 in the instinctive and intelligent behaviour of 

 birds and mammals, in the instinctive, intel- 

 ligent, and rational behaviour of man. 



No book nor naturalist can ever come 



