458 A SHOWER OF FIBROCS SUBSTANCE — LAWSON. 



because it would be more likely to shew any structure if such 

 %vere present. 



" The fibrils are small, the ^^^ of an inch being the largest, yet 

 they are wonderfully even in size and continuity." 



(Scientific American, Nov. 19th, 1892, page 325.) 

 SPIDER WEBS FROM THE CLOUDS. 



A subscriber living in Gainsville, Florida, sends us for identi- 

 fication a white thread-like substance which he states fell to the 

 earth in large quantities during a rain on September 20th. A 

 sample of the material had alread^^ been forwarded by another 

 person to the Smithsonian Institution and was- thence sent to 

 Dr. George Marx, of the Department of Agriculture, who makes 

 the following report : 



" The sample of a white substance which fell in great quanti- 

 ties in Gainsville, Fla., has been handed me by the botanist of 

 this Department for examination. 



" This very interesting material is without doubt a product of 

 the spinning glands of a spider, or rather thousands of spiders 

 The chemical reagencies prove it is not a vegetable matter, but 

 animal, and the fact that strands can be dissolved almost infi- 

 nitely into minute threads, and further, the great length of the 

 strands, hundreds of yards, causes the inference that only a 

 spider could manufacture it. 



" The species of this spider is unknown to me, but it is not 

 improbable that it might be a Nephila, a very large orb- weaver, 

 which abounds in the southern parts of the United States and 

 the West Indies. 



"The young spiders of many genera avail themselves of their 

 spinning products to migrate from their birth place by floating 

 through the air to localities at a great distance. Should rain 

 moisten these weavnngs the spider-web becomes too heav}^ to 

 float in the air and stickinof tofi-ether in ofreat masses falls from 

 above. 



