The things we do!

When the sun was hot they would come to life
again, and give themselves up for an hour or so to the old delight; the
big, strong flies were just as much alive as in midsummer. There was a
peculiar sort of earth-bug here that I had not seen before--little yellow
things, no bigger than a small-type comma, yet they could jump several
thousand times their own length. Think of the strength of such a body in
proportion to its size! There is a tiny spider here with its hinder part
like a pale yellow pearl. And the pearl is so heavy that the creature has
to clamber up a stalk of grass back downwards. When it comes upon an
obstacle the pearl cannot pass, it simply drops straight down and starts
to climb another. Now, a little pearl-spider like that is not just a
spider and no more. If I hold out a leaf towards it to help it to its
footing on a floor, it fumbles about for a while on the leaf, and thinks
to itself: "H'm, something wrong about this!" and backs away again,
refusing to be in any way entrapped on to a floor.


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