The Life of the Spider 



according to rule, would have been emanci- 

 pated, they die. The mighty Spider of the 

 waste-lands, therefore, attains to an even more 

 patriarchal age than her neighbour the Sacred 

 Beetle 1 ; she lives for five years at the very 

 least. 



Let us leave the mothers to their business 

 and return to the youngsters. It is not with- 

 out a certain surprise that we see the little 

 Lycosae, at the first moment of their emanci- 

 pation, hasten to ascend the heights. Destined 

 to live on the ground, amidst the short grass, 

 and afterwards to settle in their permanent 

 abode, a pit, they start by being enthusiastic 

 acrobats. Before descending to the low levels, 

 their normal dwelling-place, they affect lofty 

 altitudes. 



To rise higher and ever higher is their first 

 need. I have not, it seems, exhausted the 

 limit of their climbing-instinct even with a 

 nine-foot pole, suitably furnished with 

 branches to facilitate the escalade. Those 

 who have eagerly reached the very top wave 



'Cf. Insect Life, by J. H. Fabre, translated by the au- 

 thor of Mademoiselle Mori: chaps, i and ii; The Life 

 and Love of the Insect, by J. Henri Fabre, translated 

 by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos : chaps, i to iv. 

 Translator's Note. 



176 



