322 SEPTEMBER. 



floating in a profusion of tangled webs in the 

 air ; and covering our clothes, as we walk in 

 the fields, as with cotton. These little creatures, 

 the Gossamer Spiders, it has long been known, 

 have the faculty of throwing out several of 

 their threads on each side, which serve them as 

 a balloon to buoy them up into the air. With 

 these they sail into the higher regions of the 

 atmosphere, or return with great velocity. By 

 recent experiments, it appears that the Spider 

 and its web are not, as it was supposed, of less 

 specific gravity than the air, and by that means 

 ascend. The phenomenon has been supposed 

 to be electrical, but this is doubtful. It yet re- 

 quires explanation. 



There is now a brightness of the sky, and a 

 diaphanous purity of the atmosphere, at once 

 surprising and delightful. We remark with 

 astonishment how perfectly and distinctly the 

 whole of the most extensive landscape lies in 

 varied, solemn beauty before us ; while, such is 

 the reposing stillness of Nature, that not a sound 

 disturbs the sunny solitude, save perhaps the 

 clapping of pigeons' wings as they rise from the 

 stubbles. The clearness of vision may partly 

 arise from the paucity of vapour ascending from 



