The Life of the Spider 



no attention. Lovingly she embraces the 

 cork ball, fondles it with her palpi, fastens it 

 to her spinnerets and thenceforth drags it 

 after her as though she were dragging her 

 own bag. 



Let us give another the choice between the 

 imitation and the real. The rightful piU and 

 the cork ball are placed together on the floor 

 of the jar. WiU the Spider be able to know 

 the one that belongs to her? The fool is in- 

 capable of doing so. She makes a wild rush 

 and seizes haphazard at one time her prop- 

 erty, at another my sham product. What- 

 ever is first touched becomes a good capture 

 and is forthwith hung up. 



If I increase the number of cork balls, if 

 I put in four or five of them, with the real 

 piU among them, it is seldom that the Lycosa 

 recovers her own property-. Attempts at en- 

 quir}-, attempts at selection there are none. 

 \Yhatever she snaps up at random she sticks 

 to, be it good or bad. As there are more of 

 the sham piUs of cork, these are the most 

 often seized by the Spider. 



This obtuseness bafiles me. Can the animal 

 be deceived by the soft contact of the cork? 

 I replace the cork balls by pellets of cotton or 

 ii8 



