ARGONAUT AND GEOMETER. 227 



rant of these facts, believed that such animals had been 

 spontaneously generated." 



"But, father," said the Mistress, "all this doesn't 

 quite cover the point that Hugh has raised about the 

 spiders. That does seem strange ; although, of course, 

 I know that they are bred from the eggs, and don't 

 spring out of dust and decay." 



"I will come to that," I answered; "and I can best 

 illustrate it by an incident that occurred last summer. 

 I spent a week with a party of friends fishing upon the 

 St. Lawrence River. Our fishing ground lay between 

 Alexandria Bay and Lake Ontario, a region which in 

 summer time abounds with spiders, who are nested 

 along the shores and among the trees that cover the 

 beautiful Thousand Islands. The skipper of our steam 

 yacht, who soon discovered my entomological hobby, 

 related an experience very much like Hugh's. 



" ' I can't imagine where all the spiders come from,' 

 he said. ' Every morning I find their round welxs spun 

 all over the l)oat in amazing quantities. 1 have them 

 cleaned out carefull}^ and the next day there tliey are as 

 thick as ever ! They keep it up that way all summer, 

 and the spiders are just as thick at the end of the 

 season as the beginning. Where do they come from? 

 How do they get aboard the boat ? I never found any- 

 body who knew, and if you'll solve the mystery I'll be 

 obliged. ' 



"Fortunately, I was able to give a satisfactory expla- 

 nation. It chanced that on ni}- way to Alexandria Bay 

 X took the evening passenger boat that plies between 



