The Spiders' Exodus 



edifice an animal fruit, a germ-casket, a cap- 

 sule to be compared with that of the plants? 

 Only, the Epeira's wallet, instead of seeds, 

 holds eggs. The difference is more ap- 

 parent than real, for egg and grain are 

 one. 



How will this living fruit, ripening in the 

 heat beloved of the Cicadae, manage to burst? 

 How, above all, will dissemination take place? 

 They are there in their hundreds. They must 

 separate, go far away, isolate themselves in 

 a spot where there is not too much fear of 

 competition among neighbours. How will 

 they set to work to achieve this distant exodus, 

 weaklings that they are, taking such very tiny 

 steps ? 



I receive the first answer from another and 

 much earlier Epeira, whose family I find, at 

 the beginning of May, on a yucca in the enclo- 

 sure. The plant blossomed last year. The 

 branching flower-stem, some three feet high, 

 still stands erect, though withered. On the 

 green leaves, shaped like a sword-blade, swarm 

 two newly-hatched families. The wee beasties 

 are a dull yellow, with a triangular black 

 patch upon their stern. Later on, three white 

 crosses, ornamenting the back, will tell me that 

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