The Narbonne Lycosa 



which I have removed, the work of the Silky 

 Epeira. The colour and softness of the ma- 

 terial are the same in both cases; but the 

 shape is quite different. The stolen object is 

 a globe; the object presented in exchange is 

 an elliptical conoid studded with angular pro- 

 jections along the edge of the base. The 

 Spider takes no account of this dissimilarity. 

 She promptly glues the queer bag to her spin- 

 nerets and is as pleased as though she were in 

 possession of her real pill. My experimental 

 villainies have no other consequences beyond 

 an ephemeral carting. When hatching-time 

 arrives, early in the case of the Lycosa, late 

 in that of the Epeira, the gulled Spider aban- 

 dons the strange bag and pays it no further 

 attention. 



Let us penetrate yet deeper into the wallet- 

 bearer's stupidity. After depriving the Ly- 

 cosa of her eggs, I throw her a ball of cork, 

 roughly polished with a file and of the same 

 size as the stolen pill. She accepts the corky 

 substance, so different from the silk purse, 

 without the least demur. One would have 

 thought that she would recognize her mistake 

 with those eight eyes of hers, which gleam 

 like precious stones. The silly creature pays 

 117 



