HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



101 



impinged on and adhered to the outer angle of the 

 rim. The youug spider was about a line in length, 

 and the web it had sent up was rather more than ten 

 inches in length, therefore it was evident that these 

 new-born creatures, before being nourished by food, 

 possessed the power of ejecting a line one hundred 

 times their own length, and are able to attach it to 

 exactly the spot they desire, while the matter ejected 

 preserves its stickiness sufficiently to adhere to the 

 spot after its passage through the air. It almost 

 took away my breath to witness the marvel. The 

 spider next ran up the line, carrying with it a second 

 line, attached to the ed^e of the book. Other 

 spiders followed its example, and soon a lovely band 

 of innumerable silvery threads was formed between 

 the book and the outer angle of the rim of the vase, 

 and extending about an inch and a half round its 

 circumference, the little creatures travelling up and 

 down with incredible celerity and industry until it 

 was formed. Lines were carried across the rest, and 

 here and there short filaments floated out from the 

 main band, or were mingled with it. Then the 

 weavers seemed to rest from their labours, and wait 

 for flies to be entrapped. None came, however, and 

 in about an hour from the time their work was 

 begun, it so happened that a servant coming in to 

 lay the table for dinner, a current of air setting in 

 towards the fireplace, my ten spiders availed them- 

 selves of it to get to their more natural habitat, the 

 ceiling, and fastening lines to the edge of the vase, 

 took flight, and like little kites floated up, lengthen- 

 ing the lines as they went, until at last I could 

 descry them safely landed on the cornice of the 

 room. Whether some webs swept down two or 

 three weeks after were of their manufacture I know 

 not, but I had no difficulty in understanding the 

 following autumn how a large Epeira diadema had 

 been able to send out a line two and a half yards in 

 length from a trellis to exactly the corner of a 

 projecting balcony, and another from that corner 

 back to the trellis, so as to form an angle within 

 which his splendid, large, wheel-shaped web was 

 formed. Considering his age and size, the exploit 

 was not so wonderful as that performed by my 

 newly-hatched Tegenarias. 



Will any of your correspondents explain the 

 method of the Epeira in constructing its web, the 

 lines of which crossing at the centre are carried 

 some of them to surrounding objects, while others 

 are fastened to an outer circular line, made evidently 

 before the other circular lines of the woof are 

 formed ? Where does the spider place itself when 

 it ejects the lines which form the spokes of the wheel ? 



Erom the spider working at his web in the very 

 early morning or late in the evening, it is not easy 

 to watch the progress of web-making from the 

 beginning. That they work after twilight I am 

 assured by a lady, who tells me that in passing 

 down her garden-paths to shut up a greenhouse 



after dark, she has found cobwebs across her face 

 where there were none a couple of hours before. 

 Putney. S. W. 



BOTANICAL EXPERIMENTS. 



TN the month of April, 1869, 1 placed a budded 

 -*- acorn in a small bottle of water, to watch its 

 progress in growth ; at length it sent its root down- 



Fig. 62. Botanical Experiment, a, first year's leaves; b, 

 second do.; c, piece of card; d, acorn; e, glass phial. 



