SS6 MOTIONS OF INSF.CTS. 



drenched with dew, as if two or three setting-nets had 

 been drawn one over the other. When his dogs at- 

 tempted to hunt, their eyes were so blinded and hood- 

 winked that they were obh'ged to lie down and scraj)e 

 themselves. This appearance was followed by a most 

 lovely day. About nine A. M. a shower of these webs 

 (formed not of single floating threads, but of perfect 

 flakes, some near an inch broad, and five or six long,) 

 was observed falling from very elevated regions, which 

 continued without interruption during the whole of the 

 day; — and they fell with a velocity which showed that they 

 were considerably heavier than the atmosphere. When 

 the most elevated station in the country where this was 

 observed was ascended, the webs were still to be seen 

 descending from above, and twinkling like stars in the 

 sun, so as to draw the attention of the most incurious. 

 The flakes of the web on this occasion hunt; so thick 

 upon the hedges and trees, that baskets-full might have 

 been collected. No one doubts, he observes, but that 

 these webs are the production of small spiders, which 

 swarm in the fields in fine weather in autumn, and have 

 a power of shooting out webs from their tails, so as to 

 render themselves buoyant and lighter than the air *. 

 In Germany these flights of gossamer appear so con- 

 stantly in autumn, that they are there metaphorically 

 called " Der jiiegender Sommer" (the flying or departing 

 summer) ; and authors speak of the web as often hang- 

 ing in flakes like wool on every hedge and bush through- 

 out extensive districts. 



Here we may inquire— Why is the ground in these 

 serene days covered so thickly by these webs, and what 

 * Xat. Hist. i. o2o — . 



