226 TENANTS OF AN OLD FARM. 



" The mosl curious thing to mc about spiders," re- 

 nifirked Hugh, " is w'ere they come from ; I've known 

 a house to be cleaned thorough from top to bottom, 

 and almost in a night a new crop sprung up. You 

 w'itewash a fence or a wall till there's not a cobweb 

 to be seen, and it's no time afore they're spun up 

 ag'in, bad as evei". I've hear'n that spiders breed from 

 some kind of seeds that putrefy in the air, or spring up 

 spontaneous from any sort of corruption. It does look 

 somethin' like it, but w'at puzzles me is that they breed 

 so rapid on places that have jest been swept an' 

 purified." 



"There, Hugh," I answered, "you have touched 

 upon a ver}' old conceit. It was a favorite theor\' among 

 ancient Avriters that spiders, and, indeed, many other 

 creatures, were generated spontaneously from deca}-- 

 ing objects. That arose quite natui-ally from seeing 

 such matter usually covered with insects. The rapidity 

 with which multitudes swarm to decomposing sub- 

 stances must have appeared wonderful, as it still 

 appears to people who had no knowledge of the hordes 

 who lurk in trees, bush and weeds, and burrow in every 

 inch of soil. They ai'c natural scavengers, and the 

 presence of corrupt matei-ial nltracls them immediately 

 in immense numbers to the work for which they arc 

 fitted. 



" Some devour the substance, some remove it, 

 some bury it, many at once deposit in it eggs, or even 

 bring forth worms which fill it with living creatures in 

 an incredibly short space of time. The ancients, igno- 



