The Life of the Spider 



the ground, tucked away as well as may be 

 amid the surrounding twigs. 



Save in the case of the roof supplied by a 

 large stone, we see that the site selected hardly 

 satisfies proper hygienic needs. The Epeira 

 seems to realize this fact. By way of an addi- 

 tional protection, even under a stone, she 

 never fails to make a thatched roof for her 

 eggs. She builds them a covering with bits 

 of fine, dry grass, joined together with a little 

 silk. The abode of the eggs becomes a straw 

 wigwam. 



Good luck procures me two Cross Spiders' 

 nests on the edge of one of the paths in the 

 enclosure, among some tufts of ground- 

 cypress, or lavender-cotton. This is just what 

 I wanted for my plans. The find is all the 

 more valuable as the period of the exodus is 

 near at hand. 



I prepare two lengths of bamboo, standing 

 about fifteen feet high and clustered with lit- 

 tle twigs from top to bottom. I plant one of 

 them straight up in the tuft, beside the first 

 nest. I clear the surrounding ground, because 

 the bushy vegetation might easily, thanks to 

 threads carried by the wind, divert the emi- 

 grants from the road which I have laid out 

 i8o 



