The Life of the Spider 



upon my table, are replaced either by deal 

 disks, which once formed part of cheese- 

 boxes, or by round pieces of cardboard. I ar- 

 range each silken hammock under one of these 

 by itself, fastening the angular projections, 

 one by one, with strips of gummed paper. The 

 whole stands on three short pillars and gives 

 a very fair imitation of the underrock shelter 

 in the form of a small dolmen. Throughout 

 this operation, if you are careful to avoid 

 shocks and jolts, the Spider remains indoors. 

 Finally, each apparatus is placed under a wire- 

 gauze, bell-shaped cage, which stands in a dish 

 filled with sand. 



We can have an answer by the next morn- 

 ing. If, among the cabins swung from the 

 ceilings of the deal or cardboard dolmens, 

 there be one that is all dilapidated, that was 

 seriously knocked out of shape at the time of 

 removal, the Spider abandons it during the 

 night and instals herself elsewhere, sometimes 

 even on the trellis-work of the wire cage. 



The new tent, the work of a few hours, 

 attains hardly the diameter of a two-franc 

 piece. It is built, however, on the same prin- 

 ciples as the old manor-house and consists 

 of two thin sheets laid one above the other, 

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