CHAPTER X\l 



THE CLOTHO SPIDER 



CHE is named Durand's Clotho {Clotho 

 *^ Durandi, La^tr.), in memory of him 

 who first called attention to this particular 

 Spider. To enter on eternity under the safe- 

 conduct of a diminutive animal which saves 

 us from speedy oblivion under the mallows and 

 rockets is no contemptible advantage. Most 

 men disappear without leaving an echo to 

 repeat their name; they lie buried in forget- 

 fulness, the worst of graves. 



Others, among the naturalists, benefit by 

 the designation given to this or that object in 

 life's treasure-house: it is the skiff wherein 

 they keep afloat for a brief while. A patch of 

 lichen on the bark of an old tree, a blade of 

 grass, a puny beastie : any one of these hands 

 down a man's name to posterity as effectively 

 as a new comet. For all its abuses, this 

 manner of honouring the departed is emi- 

 nently respectable. If we would carve an 

 epitaph of some duration, what could we find 

 36c 



