The Life of the Spider

The Life of the Spider (Or, La Vie d'Araignée) by French naturalist, entomologist, and author Jean-Henri Fabre, was originally published in English, as translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos in 1901, but was originally included in Fabre's work "Souvenirs Entomologiques". The work is an attempt by one of France's pre-eminent 19th century naturalists, to present spiders in an objective and scientific perspective. Delineating their habits as wild animals, and their instincts in mating, eating, and staying alive. Fabre also presents naturalistic experiments on spiders themselves, comparing and contrasting different kinds of spiders in the hope of ascertaining knowledge about our arachnid friends.