The Life of the Spider 



heated by the sun, causes this rupture. The 

 signs of pressure from within are manifest: 

 the tatters of the torn fabric are turned out- 

 wards; also, a wisp of the russet eiderdown 

 that fills the wallet invariably straggles 

 through the breach. In the midst of the pro- 

 truding floss, the Spiderlings, expelled from 

 their home by the explosion, are in frantic 

 commotion. 



The balloons of the Banded Epeira are 

 bombs which, to free their contents, burst un- 

 der the rays of a torrid sun. To break they 

 need the fiery heat-waves of the dog-days. 

 When kept in the moderate atmosphere of my 

 study, most of them do not open and the emer- 

 gence of the young does not take place, unless 

 I myself have a hand in the business; a few 

 others open with a round hole, a hole so neat 

 that it might have been made with a punch. 

 This aperture is the work of the prisoners, 

 who, relieving one another in turns, have, 

 with a patient tooth, bitten through the stuff 

 of the jar at some point or other. 



When exposed to the full force of the sun, 



however, on the rosemaries in the enclosure, 



the balloons burst and shoot forth a ruddy 



flood of floss and tiny animals. That is how 



208 



