330 MOTIONS OF INSECTS. 



them equal hold of eight alm'ost equidistant spaces, 

 which, doubtless, is a great stay to them. 



The next species of locomotion exhibited by perfect 

 insects is Jlying. I am not certain whether under this 

 head I ought to introduce the sailing of spiders in the 

 air; but as there is no other under which it can be 

 more properly arranged, I shall treat of it here. I shall 

 therefore divide flying insects into those that fly without 

 wings, and those that fly with them. 



I dare say you are anxious to be told how any ani- 

 mals can fly without wings, and wish me to begin with 

 them. As an observer of nature, you have often, with- 

 out doubt, been astonished by that sight occasionally 

 noticed in fine days in the autumn, of webs commonly 

 called gossamer webs covering the earth and floating 

 in the air ; and have frequently asked yourself What 

 are these gossamer webs ? Your question has from old 

 times much excited the attention of learned naturalists. 

 It was an old and strange notion that these webs were 

 composed of dew burned by the sun. 



*' The fine nets which oft we woven see 



Of scorched dew," 



says Spenser. Another, fellow to it, and equally absurd, 

 was that adopted by a learned man and good natural 

 philosopher, and one of the first fellows of the Royal 

 Society, Robert Hooke, the author of Micrographia. 

 " Much resembling a cobweb," says he, " or a confused 

 lock of these cylinders, is a certain white substance 

 which, after a fogg, may be observed to fly up and down 

 the air : catching several of these, and examining them 



