e for all. The evacuation of the place, therefore, lasts several
days. It is effected in small squads, as the slough is flung aside.

Those who sally forth climb up the neighbouring twigs and there, in the
full heat of the sun, proceed with the work of dissemination. The method
is the same as that which we saw in the case of the Cross Spider. The
spinnerets abandon to the breeze a thread that floats, breaks and flies
away, carrying the rope-maker with it. The number of starters on any one
morning is so small as to rob the spectacle of the greater part of its
interest. The scene lacks animation because of the absence of a crowd.

To my intense disappointment, the Silky Epeira does not either indulge in
a tumultuous and dashing exodus. Let me remind you of her handiwork, the
handsomest of the maternal wallets, next to the Banded Epeira's. It is
an obtuse conoid, closed with a star-shaped disk. It is made of a
stouter and especially a thicker material than the Banded Epeira's
balloon, for which reason a spontaneous rupture becomes more necessary
than ever.

This rupture is effected at the sides of the bag, not far from the edge
of the lid. Like the ripping of the balloon, it requires the rough aid
of the heat of July. Its mechanism also seems to work by the expansion
of the heated air, for we again see a partial emission of the silky floss
that fills the pouch.

The exit of the family is performed in a single group and, this time,
before the moult, perhaps for lack of the space necessary for the
delicate casting of the skin. The conical bag falls far short of the
balloon in size; those packed within would sprain their legs in
extracting them from their sheaths. The family, therefore, emerges in a
body and settles on a sprig hard by.

This is a temporary camping-ground, where, spinning in unison, the
youngsters soon weave an open-work tent, the abode of a week, or
thereabouts. The moult is effected in this lounge of intersecting
threads. The sloughed skins form a heap at the bottom of the dwelling;
on the trapezes above, the flaylings take exercise and gain strength and
vigour. Finally, when maturity is attained, they set out, now these, now
those, little by little and always cautiously. There are no audacious
flights on the thready airship; the journey is accomplished by modest
stages.

Hanging to her thread, the Spider lets herself drop straight down, to a
depth of nine or ten inches. A breath of a