34 



spiders, when young, can so raise themselves in the 

 air. Dr. Lister conceived that spiders, in their transit 

 through the atmosphere, could coil up their threads, 

 and descend ad libitum from their aerial excursions, 

 by altering in this manner their specific gravity. 



We are not aware that any have attempted to 

 describe the gossamer-spider as a distinct and peculiar 

 species, Bechstein and Starck excepted ; but they 

 seem to have got hold of different species : thus, the 

 former describes it as being the size of a small pin's 

 head, having eight eyes disposed in a circle, body of 

 a dark-brown colour, and light-yellow legs ; while that 

 of Starck extended more than two lines in length, 

 having eyes in the form of a square, two on each 

 side, in contact with each other ; thorax of a deep- 

 brown colour, with paler streaks; the under side of 

 the abdomen of a dull white, and a dark copper-brown 

 colour above, with a dentated white spot running 

 longitudinally down the middle. Dr. Starck imprisoned 

 several of these under a bell-glass, on a grass-plat, 

 and he tells us they existed two months without food, 

 though they took water greedily. Mr. White ob- 

 served a remarkable phenomenon on the 21st of 

 September, 174-1. Early in the morning the whole 

 country was enveloped in a coat of cobweb, wet with 

 dew. His dogs, on a shooting excursion, were blinded 

 by them : a delightful day succeeded ; and, at nine 

 o'clock A. M., a shower of these webs fell, (not single 

 threads, but formed of flakes,) some nearly an inch 

 broad, and five or six inches long, and continued to 

 fall during the entire day. Baskets-full might have 

 been collected from the hedges ; and, from the velo- 

 city of their fall, it was evident they were consi- 

 derably heavier than the medium through which they 

 descended. 



