SPIDERS. 349 



afternoon, when the upward current had ceased, and 

 they were falHng: but scarcely one in twenty con- 

 tained a spider; though, on minute inspection, I 

 found small winged insects, chiefly aphides, entangled 

 in most of them. 



" From contemplating this unusual display of 

 gossamer, my thoughts were naturally directed to 

 the animals which produced it, and the countless 

 myriads in which they svv^armed almost created as 

 much surprise as the singular occupation that en- 

 grossed them. Apparently actuated by the same 

 impulse, all were intent upon traversing the regions 

 of air; accordingly, after gaining the summits of 

 various objects, as blades of grass, stubble, rails, 

 gates, &c., by the slow and laborious process of 

 climbing, they raised themselves still higher by 

 straightening their limbs; and elevating the abdo- 

 men, by bringing it from the usual horizontal posi- 

 tion, into one almost perpendicular, they emitted from 

 their spinning apparatus, a small quantity of the 

 glutinous secretion with which they construct their 

 webs. This viscous substance being drawn out by - 

 the ascending current of rarefied air into fine lines 

 several feet in length, was carried upward, until the 

 spiders, feeling themselves acted upon with sufficient 

 force in that direction, quitted their hold of the 

 objects on which they stood, and commenced their 

 journey by mounting aloft. 



'' Whenever the lines became inadequate to the 

 purpose for which they were intended, by adhering 

 to any fixed body, they were immediately detached 

 from the spinners, and so converted into terrestrial 

 gossamer, by means of the last pair of legs, and the 

 proceedings just described were repented; which 

 plainly proves that these operations result from a 

 strong desire felt by the insects to effect an ascent."* 



* Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 453. 

 VOL. IV. 30 



