CHAP. IV. 



ASCENT OF THE SPIDER CONTINUED. GOCSAMER 



THE WORK OF THE SPIDER. NECESSITY OF 



DESCENT, ETC. PROPULSION OF THREADS CON- 

 JOINED OPINION OF MR. BLACKWALL AND MR. 



RENNIE. THE MECHANICAL IMPULSE OF AERIAL 



CURRENTS QUESTIONABLE AS TO EFFICIENCY. 



ASCENT INTO THE ATMOSPHERE ASCRIBED BY MR. 

 BLACKWALL TO THE IMPULSION OF HEATED 

 EMANATIONS FROM THE GROUND. FACTS THAT 



SEEM TO CONTROVERT THIS OPINION. FORMER 



VIEWS REITERATED. BENEFICENT PURPOSE SUB- 

 SERVED BY THEIR ASCENT. 



THE Germans connect with the gossamer in autumn 

 an allusion to the transient season: it is called " the flit- 

 ting summer." These films that often pervade the at- 

 mosphere have been called, in France, the " Virgin's " 

 threads while we give it to the sylphs : 



" Lovers who may bestride the gossamer 

 That idles in the wanton air." 



That the "sea of gauze covered with dew," which 

 decorates our meadows, and sparkles in the morning 

 with a summer or autumnal radiance, is the laborious 

 structure of the bird spider, is beyond a doubt. We 

 have seen more than a dozen in the space of a few 

 inches ; and Starck says that twenty or thirty are often 

 found on a single stubble : " he collected 2000 in half 

 an hour, and could easily have got twice as many had 

 he wished it." In a fine autumnal afternoon we have 



