BALLOONING SPIDERS 11$ 
the dew who has not seen it, and thought of the 
agile, long-legged proprietor somewhere lurking 
near by ? And yet for ages, and until a compara- 
tively recent date, this cobweb, either trailing 
lightly in the breeze or spread in the grass, was a 
mystery as to its source, and was believed to con- 
sist of dew burned by the sun. But the spider 
has hoodwinked even the wise heads in many 
other ways, and even to-day is an unsolved mys- 
tery to many of us. Yes, we all know the spider- 
web and the spider, but have we tried to solve 
the puzzle which he spreads before us by every 
path, in our window-blind, our office, our bedroom, 
or even, it may be, in mid -ocean. Here, for in- 
stance, a puzzled nautical friend propounds the 
question: " How do those tiny spiders get on my 
yacht when I am twenty miles at sea ? They 
could not have hatched simultaneously all over 
the ship, and I find them by the dozens all over 
the sails and rigging, and even on my clothing." 
I have heard of a little girl who ran in - doors to 
her mother in great excitement to tell her that it 
was " snowin' 'pider-webs," a picturesque and true 
statement as far as it goes, but which tells but 
half the story, for each of the falling webs held a 
pretty secret. What that secret was my yachts- 
man can readily guess, for the two half -stories 
taken together complete the tale. Various ac- 
counts of these gossamer showers have been 
