304 INSECT ARCHITECTURE. 



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 

 swarmed almost created as much surprise as the singular 

 occupation that engrossed 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 abdomen, by bringing it from the usual hori- 

 zontal position into one almost perpendicular, they emitted 

 from their spinning apparatus a small quantity of the glu- 

 tinous 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 the}^ stood, and com- 

 menced their journey b}" mounting aloft. 



" AYhenever the lines became inadequate to the j^iii'pose 

 for which they were intended, by adhering to any fixed 

 body, the}^ 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 

 repeated ; which plainly proves that these operations result 

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

 Mr. Blackwall has recently read a paper (still unpublished) 

 in the Linnean Society, confirmatory of his opinions. 



6. . Without going into the particulars of what agrees or 

 disagrees in the above experiments with our own observa- 

 tions, we shall give a brief account of what we have actually 

 seen in our researches. (J. R.) So far as we have deter- 

 mined, then, all the various species of spiders, how diiferent 

 soever the form of their webs may be, proceed in the cir- 



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



