NUMBER XXIX 

 SHOWERS OF GOSSAMER 



WE read of the Indian conjurer who throws a 

 rope into the air and climbs up it, but we 

 can see spiders actually doing something of this 

 sort. It is especially, though not by any means 

 exclusively, in the autumn that threads of silk 

 may be seen floating in the air, just visible when the 

 sunlight makes them glisten, or entangled in in- 

 credible numbers on hedgerows and among the 

 herbage. Sometimes as we walk over the links and 

 stoop down to look along the short grass, we see 

 that it is quivering with myriads of silken lines 

 the fallen threads of gossamer, sometimes showing 

 rainbow colours in the sunlight. 



In most cases the natural history of gossamer is as 

 follows : Young spiders and small spiders of a good 

 many different kinds seem to become restless in the 

 autumn. They mount on the tops of plants, on 

 fences, on the hand-rail of a wooden bridge and the 

 like ; they stand on tiptoe with their head facing 

 the gentle currents in the air ; they emit from their 

 spinnerets fine separate threads of silk. They 

 stand on tiptoe, but keep firm hold until the threads 



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