The Life of the Spider 



trip will be good for a fact that fills some gap 

 in the ideas already gathered. To appoint 

 one's self, in this way, an inspector of Spiders' 

 webs, for many years in succession and for 

 long seasons, means joining a not overcrowded 

 profession, I admit. Heaven knows, it does 

 not enable one to put money by ! No matter : 

 the meditative mind returns from that school 

 fuUy satisfied. 



To describe the separate progress of the 

 work in the case of each of the six Epeirae 

 mentioned would be a useless repetition: 

 all six employ the same methods and weave 

 similar webs, save for certain details that shall 

 be set forth later. I will, therefore, sum up 

 in the aggregate the particulars supplied by 

 one or other of them. 



My subjects, in the first instance, are young 

 and boast but a slight corporation, very far re- 

 moved from what it will be in the late autumn. 

 The belly, the waUet containing the rope- 

 works, hardly exceeds a peppercorn in bulk. 

 This slendemess on the part of the spinstresses 

 must not prejudice us against their work : there 

 is no parity between their skill and their years. 

 The adult Spiders, with their disgraceful 

 paunches, can do no better. 

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