Garden Spiders: Question of Property 



must we wait for the ocean-plains of the 

 southern hemisphere to flow to our side, chang- 

 ing the face of continents and renewing the 

 glacial period of the Reindeer and the Mam- 

 moth? Perhaps, so slow is moral progress. 



True, we have the bicycle, the motor-car, 

 the dirigible airship and other marvellous 

 means of breaking our bones; but our mo- 

 rality is not one rung the higher for it all. 

 One would even say that, 'the farther we 

 proceed in our conquest of matter, the more 

 our morality recedes. The most advanced of 

 our inventions consists in bringing men down 

 with grapeshot and explosives with the swift- 

 ness of the reaper mowing the corn. 



Would we see this might triumphant in all 

 its beauty? Let us spend a few weeks in the 

 Epeira's company. She is the owner of a web, 

 her work, her most lawful property. The 

 question at once presents itself: does the 

 Spider possibly recognize her fabric by certain 

 trade-marks and distinguish it from that of 

 her fellows? 



I bring about a change of webs between 



two neighbouring Banded Epeiras. No sooner 



is either placed upon the strange net than she 



makes for the central floor, settles herself 



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