32 



the atmosphere, our researches on the aranea aero- 

 nautica would seem to prove, and the manner in which 

 some spiders carry on their operations confirms the 

 conclusion. If the weather is likely to become rainy, 

 windy, or the like, the spider fixes the terminating 

 threads by which the entire web is suspended, un- 

 usually short, and in this state awaits the impending 

 change. On the other hand, if these threads are dis- 

 covered to be long, we may conclude that it will be 

 in that ratio serene, and continue so for about a week 

 or more. If spiders be completely inactive, rain will 

 likely follow; but if, during the prevalence of rain, 

 their wonted activity is resumed, it may be considered 

 as of short duration, and to be soon followed by fair 

 and constant weather. It has been also observed, that 

 spiders regularly make some alterations in their webs 

 every twenty-four hours, and we feel persuaded that 

 this is the case : if these changes are observed be- 

 tween 6 and 7 o'clock, p. M., they indicate a clear and 

 pleasant night. It is really interesting to observe, in 

 a fine summer's day, the threads that fan and flutter in 

 the breeze from the trees and hedges ; and they are 

 often stretched across the road from hedge-row to 

 hedge-row, particularly in a morning or evening. 



The ascent of the wingless spider into the atmo- 

 sphere, is a fact unquestionable and unquestioned. 

 Linnaeus, Shaw, Donovan, and others, throw no light 

 on the subject, nor indeed attempt a solution. In the 

 Edinburgh Review, in reference to Kirby and Spence's 

 Entomology, it is remarked : " The flying of certain 

 spiders, by means of their webs, is not the least extra- 

 ordinary mode of motion possessed by spiders ; nor, in 

 truth, is it very intelligible, although the fact itself is 

 unquestionable. In ordinary cases, the spiders spin 

 their threads slowly from organs adapted to that end, 



