AERONAUTIC SPIDERS 



from the continent. "The spiders seemed like elon- 

 gated balls," said the captain, "with a sort of umbrella 

 canopy above them. They settled upon the sails and 

 rigging, and finally disappeared as they came. You 

 know," he added, " that it is not unusual for birds to 

 be blown out to sea. How much easier for a spider, 

 provided he has the means to keep himself suspended 

 in the air!" 



To the ballooning habit of spiders is due so-called 

 "gossamer showers." On an early autumn morning 

 when the dew upon floating spider filaments betrays 

 their presence, one is surprised at the vast amount 

 visible. Later in the day quantities of this spinning- 

 work will be seen sailing through the air. A great ex- 

 cess of tufts of these filaments is known as a gossamer 

 shower. At times it has assumed such proportions as 

 to win record as a natural marvel. Pliny appears to 

 have seen one when he noted that "in the consulate of 

 I. Paulus and C. Marcellus it rained wool about the 

 Castle Carissa." In later days in England, where gossa- 

 mer showers seem rather prevalent, they received a 

 stranger explanation than Pliny's, as voiced JDy some 

 of the English bards. Thus Spenser wrote: 



"More subtle web Arachne cannot spin: 

 Nor the fine nets, which oft we woven see, 

 Of scorched dew, do not in tli' ayre more lightly flee." 



Even as late as Thomson's day this curious fancy had 

 utterance in the "Seasons": 



"How still the breeze! save what the filmy threads 

 Of dew evaporate brushes from the plain." 

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