CHAPTER III 



The Life of the Spider 



BALLOONING 



M 



UCH OF THE ADVENTURE IN THE 



life of the spider is crowded into the first few days of freedom 

 when the young spiderlings, having just broken through the egg 

 sac, strike out for themselves in a world completely new to them. 

 It is spring and the warmth of the sun has changed the inertia of 

 earlier life in the egg sac to one of intense activity. Hundreds of 

 brothers and sisters, still closely packed together and indistinguish- 

 able one from the other, move about within the narrow confines. 

 Finally the actions of a few vigorous leaders result in the opening 

 of a small aperture at some point in the sac, and a little body 

 squeezes through it to greet the open air. One by one the tiny 

 creatures emerge through the round opening, until the sac is covered 

 with them. They do not tarry long but climb all over the dried 

 leaves and the stems on which the sac is placed, stringing their 

 threads as they go. Soon we see a tangle of webs (Plate 8), strung 

 on every available support, crisscrossing in all directions, and invad- 

 ing space like a living thing. Many of the spiderlings hang motion- 

 less once they have gained their particular station, but others press 

 on with undiminished activity. Up and up they move, to the tips 

 of the tall grass stems and the summits of the leafless shrubs which 

 mark the meadow site of the egg sac. Straight toward the sun they 

 climb until they can climb no higher, impelled by a strange urge 

 to throw silken threads out upon the soft breezes. 



This is the urge toward ballooning, one of the most extraordi- 

 nary accomplishments of the spider. 



Once the spiderling has reached the summit of the nearest pro- 

 montory, a weed, a spike of grass, or a fence rail, it turns its face 

 in the direction of the wind, extends its legs to their fullest, and 



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