AERONAUTIC SPIDERS 



as they are popularly called, "flying" spiders. That 

 an animal which has none of the natural gifts of winged 

 creatures for progress through the air should nev- 

 ertheless be able to overcome gravity, mount aloft, 

 and make long aerial journeys, is well suited to ex- 

 cite imagination, awaken curiosity, and stimulate re- 

 search. 



Spider ballooning is not limited to any period of the 

 year; but the seasons when it most prevails are spring 

 or early summer and the autumn after the young have 

 been hatched. The fall is especially the time for flying 

 spiders, and October the month most favored. But in 

 early November the balloonists are abroad, notably 

 during Indian summer. Nor is the habit confined to 

 any one group. It is probable that the young of all 

 spiders, and certain that many small species of all the 

 great groups, are more or less given to aeronautics. 

 The infant aranead, when aloof from its fellows and 

 exposed to a puff of air, seems instinctively to throw 

 out its spinnerets and send forth jets of silken filament, 

 just as a human baby sets in motion its hands and feet. 

 As the jets are soon of sufficient buoyancy to counter- 

 balance the spider's weight, the creature becomes an 

 aeronaut, nolens volens. One can see how from this 

 involuntary act the habit of ballooning could have 

 been formed, and fixed by heredity. 



Let one walk in the fields on a warm October day 

 when a soft breeze is blowing. If he will stoop low and 

 glance along the meadow, his eyes will catch the sheen 

 of myriads of fine, silken filaments. They float from 

 every elevated spot. They fringe fence-posts and hedges. 

 They stream like pennants from tall weeds. They inter- 

 lace the foliage of bushes with delicate meshes or flutter 



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