NATURE'S CRAFTSMEN 



or entangled upon various parts of the vessel. Darwin, 

 in his famous voyage of the Beagle, when sixty miles 

 from land saw great numbers of small spiders with their 

 webs. When they first came in contact with the rig- 



A SPIDER ISSUING TRIAL THREADS FROM A FOOT-BASKET 



ging they were seated upon threads, and while hanging 

 to these the slightest breath of air would bear them 

 out of sight. Thus, though so far from land, the wee 

 voyagers were still moving on over the main. 



Captain George H. Dodge, of the American Line 

 steamship Pennsylvania, told the writer, during a voy- 

 age in the winter of 1881-82, of a like observation made 

 by him. While sailing along the eastern coast of South 

 America during the month of March, his ship was cov- 

 ered with innumerable spider-webs. He was then more 

 than two hundred miles from land, about four hundred 

 miles south of the equator. The wind was blowing 



190 



