The Clotho Spider 



ridens and other narrow spirals wherein the 

 animal retreats to an inacxessible depth ? The 

 Spider is incapable of breaking the calcareous 

 shell or of getting at the hermit through the 

 opening. Then why should she collect those 

 prizes, whose slimy flesh is probably not to her 

 taste? We begin to suspect a simple question 

 of ballast and balance. The House Spider 

 prevents her web, spun in a comer of the wall, 

 from losing its shape at the least breath of 

 air, by loading it with crumbling plaster and 

 allowing tiny fragments of mortar to accumu- 

 late. Are we face to face with a similar 

 process? Let us try experiment, which is 

 preferable to any amount of conjecture. 



To rear the Clotho is not an arduous under- 

 taking; we are not obliged to take the heavy 

 flagstone, on which the dwelling is built, away 

 with us. A verj' simple operation suffices. I 

 loosen the fastenings with my pocket-knife. 

 The Spider has sudi stay-at-home ways that 

 she ver\- rarely mak« off. Besides, I use the 

 utmost discretion in my rape of the house. 

 And so I carry away die building, together 

 with its owner, in a paper bag. 



The flat stones, which are too heavy to 

 move and which would occupy too much room 

 367 



