240 ROUND THE YEAR 



feature. The kids, which an Italian butcher hangs up 

 at his door with all the viscera exposed, soon made it 

 clear where the old painters, careless of comparative 

 anatomy, had got their reversed spirals. The intestine 

 of a Pond Mussel, the vasa deferentia of Crustaceans 

 and many other organs of various animals furnish 

 examples of the same thing. 



GOSSAMER. 



Sept. 9, 1894. A calm, bright autumn day. At 

 sunrise the sky was clear, and the air perfectly still. 

 The sun shone uninterruptedly through most of the 

 morning, but in the afternoon, haze and thin clouds 

 were prevalent. During the day, light and variable 

 winds alternated with perfect calm. The evening was 

 clear, with a gentle northerly breeze. 



At breakfast-time this morning the lawn was 

 covered with dewy cobwebs, and on walking out a 

 little later, they were found to overspread the fields, 

 lanes and thickets. Most of the webs were deserted, 

 but here and there dead or living Insects chiefly 

 Aphides and small flies were entangled in them. 

 There were also very many threads attached at both 

 ends, traces probably of the ordinary excursions of 

 a variety of Spiders, rendered unusually distinct by 

 the fine globules of dew. Small and apparently 

 immature Spiders were occasionally seen, in one or 

 two cases in little companies. They paid no attention 

 to the captured Insects, but travelled along the* webs. 

 As the sun got higher, the Spiders became more 



