THE LIFE OF THE SPIDER 31 



able that many of the smaller four-lunged spiders also have this 

 singular habit. A few years ago Dr. W. J. Baerg described the 

 flying activities of one of the trap-door spiders, Pachylomerus cara- 

 bivorus. The young leave the parental burrow and walk in single 

 file toward and up a tree of considerable size, leaving behind them 

 as a record of their march a silken band that can be traced back to 

 the trap door. From the tree the plump little creatures "spin out 

 a thread of silk, which, when having sufficient buoyancy, carries 

 the spiders off and out into the world." Dr. Baerg did not see 

 the babies fly, so we know nothing of the distance they covered or 

 of their flying behavior. However, this activity may be limited to 

 certain species or only indulged in occasionally. The young of 

 some Mexican species of Pachylomerus remain in the burrow with 

 the mother until they are much too large to balloon. 



The drifting threads of spider silk are known in prose and 

 poetry as gossamer, a name of uncertain derivation but possibly 

 from "goose summer" in "reference to the fanciful resemblance of 

 the fragile skeins of silk to the down of geese, which the thrifty 

 housewife causes to fly when she renovates her feather beds and 

 pillows." The gossamer season is known in France as fils de la 

 Vierge, and in Germany as Marienjaden or "Our Lady's threads." 

 The reference here regards gossamer as being "the remnant of Our 

 Lady's winding sheet which fell away in these lightest fragments as 

 she was assumed into heaven." 



Great showers of gossamer have fallen in many places in the 

 world, and their origin has been subject to fantastic interpretations. 

 The true explanation is a very simple one. During the autumn 

 months, spiders become greatly active and cover the meadows and 

 shrubbery with innumerable filaments, which soon form a thin web- 

 bing over everything. Many of these threads are put out by spiders 

 in unsuccessful attempts to fly, and remain hanging on the vegeta- 

 tion. The matted gossamer is then picked up by the wind and 

 showered down in spots often far from where the cobweb orig- 

 inated. 



In the Yosemite valley of California is located a series of arches 

 which form natural traps for spider threads carried upward by the 

 air currents and deposited in vast sheets. In these areas "all the 

 shrubs, bushes and trees are webbed about in such a manner that 

 the trunks of the largest trees are but faint shadows, while limbs 

 and foliage resemble a glistening mass of crystal. In the midst of 

 this mass are bunches of rolled-up webs that are as white as cotton 



