THE MASTERY OF THE AIR 269 



as we see one doing when it reascends the 

 thread by which it has lowered itself half- 

 way from the roof. If the wind should fall, 

 the spider can pay out more thread. It is 

 quaintly like the sailor furling and unfurling 

 his sails. When the spiders feel they have 

 had enough of aerial journeying, they wind 

 in some thread and sink to the ground. When 

 ten thousand little spiders do this about the 

 same time there is what is called a shower of 

 gossamer. The countless threads are seen on 

 the hedgerow and on the ploughed field and 

 on the lea, and if we kneel down and look 

 against the light we see the quivering, glisten- 

 ing maze an image of the web of life itself. 

 But what impresses us most is the simple fact 

 that a wingless terrestrial creature journeys 

 through the air. It has attempted the appar- 

 ently impossible and achieved it. We are 

 filled with a reasonable wonder at the adven- 

 turousness of life. 



