The Life of the Spider 



become incompetent when the prescribed 

 period is ended. 



On a subject of this kind, we can consult 

 the Spider of the waste-lands. I catch an old 

 Lycosa in the fields and house her, that same 

 day, under wire, in a burrow where I have 

 prepared a soil to her liking. If, by my con- 

 trivances and with a bit of reed, I have 

 previously moulded a burrow roughly repre- 

 senting the one from which I took her, the 

 Spider enters it forthwith and seems pleased 

 with her new residence. The product of my 

 art is accepted as her lawful property and 

 undergoes hardly any alterations. In course 

 of time, a bastion is erected around the ori- 

 fice; the top of the gaUer}- is cemented with 

 silk ; and that is all. In this establishment of 

 my building, the animal's behaviour remains 

 what it would be under natural conditions. 



But place the Lycosa on the surface of the 

 ground, without first shaping a burrow. 

 What wiU the homeless Spider do ? Dig her- 

 self a dwelling, one would think. She has 

 the strength to do so; she is in the prime of 

 life. Besides, the soil is similar to that 

 whence I ousted her and suits the operation 



perfectly. We therefore expect to see the 

 148 



