The Spiders' Exodus 



eighteen indies tall, as a dimbing-pole. The 

 whole band hurriedly danibers up and readies 

 the top. In a few moments there is not one 

 lacking in the group on high. The future 

 will tell us the reason of this assemblage on 

 the projecting tips of the twigs. 



The littie Spiders are now spinning here 

 and there at random: they go up, go down, 

 come up again. Thus is woven a light vdl of 

 dii'Cigent threads, a many-comercd web with 

 the end of die branch for its summit and the 

 e^e of die table for its base, some eighteen 

 inches wide. This veil is the drill-ground, the 

 work-yard where the preparations for de- 

 parture are made. 



Here hasten the humble litde creatures, 

 running indefatigably to and fro. A^Tien the 

 sun shines upon them: they become gleaming 

 spe<^s, and form upon the milky background 

 of the veil a sort of constellation, a reflex of 

 those remote points in the sk\- where the tde- 

 scope shows us endless galaxi« of stars. The 

 immeasurably small and the immeasurably 

 large are alike in appearance. It is all a mat- 

 ter of distance. 



But the li\-ing nebula is not composed of 

 fixed stars; on the contrary, its specfcs are in 

 193 



