36 



was 72 F. Some of these were single, others branched 

 filaments, occasionally from 40 to 50 feet in length ! 

 others were woolly films, or flocculi : some fell slowly, 

 and others more rapidly. This was first noticed in the 

 market-place at Bewdley ; and, on repairing to the 

 adjoining fields, we found the same phenomenon, and 

 our clothes were most curiously invested with a net- 

 work of spiders' threads. In a communication to the 

 Rev. J. J. Freeman of Kidderminster, now a Mis- 

 sionary in Madagascar, we remarked this circumstance ; 

 and the fpllowing is an extract from his letter to us, 

 dated 18th of September, 1822: The fall of cob- 

 webs was also observed here on Monday. A gentle- 

 man told me he was obliged to wipe his face several 

 times while walking in his garden about 12 or 1 o'clock, 

 such quantities continued to fall on him." On the 

 19th of July, 1822, the yeomanry, at 1 o'clock p. M., 

 were drawn up in the market-place at Kidderminster, 

 to fire a feu-de-joie, which had the effect of bringing 

 immense numbers of this spider from the aerial re- 

 gions : we picked up a considerable quantity from the 

 pavement, when the yeomanry had withdrawn, and 

 several took refuge on the table where we were read- 

 ing, near the window of the hotel, then partly open. 



We have stated that a free and unrestrained privi- 

 lege of ascent into the atmosphere is a condition 

 essential to the very being of these remarkable insects. 

 The blaps mortisaga, it is known, will live three years 

 shut up, and deprived of food : we have kept the aranea 

 diadema two months under similar circumstances : in- 

 deed this insect has been preserved alive upwards of a 

 year, confined and without nutriment. The aranea 

 aeronautica, however, we find is impatient of confine- 

 ment, and will die, when imprisoned, sometimes within 

 twenty hours, or at most in a few days. 



