20 



^[)t jTanncr's iHontl)li) IJisitor. 



Bow woods. In tlie season of nuts we abound 

 in them, as some of the Concowl boys know. 

 Our town is not to be laughed al. 



Bow, Feb. 1843. J. W. P. 



(U' We tliank our friend Chandler for the 

 following; and anticipate his future communica- 

 tions as among the most valuable to our readers: 



Concord, Feb. 13th, 1843. 

 To the Editor of the Fanmr's Monthly Visitor : 



Dear Sir : — At the repeated solicitation of the 

 late Di\ J. Fanner, I, a (i;w years ago, began to 

 keep a Meteorological Journal, and had it pub- 

 lished in one of the papers in town a few times. 

 Severe iiftlictions in my family prevented its 

 continuance, and from that time to the present 

 year, 1 have almost wholly neglecteil it. 1 have 

 re-commenced keeping it,and if nothing uncom- 

 mon hapi)ens to prevent it, I shall probably con- 

 tinue it. 



In order to comply with the Doctor's earnest 

 request that I woidd " keep it and have it pub- 

 lished," I send you inclosed the journal (or Janu- 

 ary, and if you think it worthy, and can spare a 

 place for it in your Monthly Visitor, 1 shall be 

 much obliged. I need not say any thing to you 

 of the value of a correct meteorological journal 

 to the farmer, as well as to general science, for 

 of that you are a better judge than J. 



In the joiu'nal for February and thereafter, 1 

 shall include the observations of the barometer 

 and such other improvements as my time and 

 means will permit. 



Respectfully, vours, &c. 



ABIEL CHANDLER. 



METEOROLOGICAL JOl]RN.\L KEPT AT CON- 

 CORD, N. H., BY A. CHANDLER. 



JANUARY, 1843. 



State of the Weather and 

 Remarks. 



Fine day. [10 A.M. 



Ther. 14" at 5 A. M. Snow at 

 Half cloudy, w'd beg. 10 A.M. 

 Thinly cloudy. Do. 



do. do. [A. M. 



Half cloudy, beg. to thaw at 10 

 Cloudy and foggy. P. .M. do. 

 Dense fog. do. S.VV. w'd iti ev. 

 Cloudy, rained little last night. 

 Fog so dense as to fall in rain. 

 .\ quarter cloudy. Cloudy. 

 Foggy, do. I'ht show'r in eve. 

 Dense fog. do. [sunrise. 



Very clear ; saw Venus after 

 Three quarters cloudy. Do. 

 Fair. Half cloudy. 

 Fair & pleasant. Little hazy. 

 Little hazy. Do. 

 3 cloudy. Brisk S. wind inev. 

 One quarter cloudy. Do. 

 Pleasant. Do. 

 Half cloudy. Do. 

 3 cloudy. Cloudy. 

 C'loudy ; I't snow in the night. 

 Half cloudy. Do. 

 Fair. Do. 



Cloudy. Do. [day. 



Cloudy ; snowed lightly all 

 Very fine. Do. 

 Fair. Do. [M 



Began to rain a little at 10 A' 



Maximum height of thermometer, 50° on the 9th. 

 Minimum *' " " 20^ " '* 4th. 



Mean during the month, 28" 48. 



From the Natural History of Insects. 

 The Gossamer Spider. 

 In modern times, much interest bus been ex- 

 cited by the elevation of bodies in the air by 

 means of ;i l)allnon. The discovery consisted iii 

 finding out a manageable substance which vva.s, 

 bulk for bulk, lighter than air; and the iipplica- 

 tiou of the dlscovei-y was to make a body com- 

 posed of this substance bear up, along with its 

 own weight, some heavier body which was at- 

 tached to it. Thi-i expeilient," so new to us, 

 proves to be no other than what the Author of 

 nature has employed in the s^ossaimr spider. We 

 fiX"r|ueutly sec this spidei's th|-ead floating in the 

 air, and extended from hedge to hetlgc ticross a 

 road or brook of four or five yai-ds' widlh. The 

 suiiiiiul which forms the thiead has no wings 

 whei-ewith to fly from one extremity to the other 

 of this line, nor muscles to enable it to spring 

 or dart to so great a distance ; yet its Cieator 

 liath laid for it a path in the atinosphere ; and 

 alter this maimer, though the insect itself be 

 heavier than aii-, the thread which it spins from 

 its bowels is specifically lightei-. This is its 

 balloon. The spider left" to itself would drop to 

 the ground ; but being tied to its thread, both 



are supported. By this contrivance, Xhe crea- 

 tures mount into the tiiir to such immense heights,' 

 that when Dr. Mai-tin Lister ascended York 

 Minister, be still saw these insects much above 

 him. In the fine summer days, the air may be 

 seen filled, and the earth covered with filmy 

 webs : — 



The fine nets wliich oft we woven see, of scorched dew. 



Speiiser. 

 Most natiotis have associated something |)oeti- 

 cal with their presence. The Germans, from 

 constantly observing them in the beginning of 

 the autumn, have styled the phenomenon "the 

 flitting summer." The French, unable to ac- 

 count for the existence of such pure films, in 

 the open and lieautifid autumnal skies, called 

 them the threads of the "Virgin." And we the 

 gossamer — 



Lovers who may bestride the gossamer 

 That idles in the wanton air. 



Mr. White gives a curious account of a shower 

 of these gossamers. In September, 1741, being 

 intent on field sports, he found the whole face 

 of the country covered with a coat of web 

 drenched in dew, as thick as if two or three 

 setting nets had been drawn one over the oth- 

 er. His dogs were so blinded by them as to be 

 obliged to lie down and scrape themselves.— 

 About 9 A. M. these films, some an inch broad 

 and six long, fell from a height, and continued 

 to do so the whole day, with a velocity which 

 proved their weight. When the most elevated 

 parts of the country were ascended, the gossa- 

 mers were seen to fall fiom higher regions ; and 

 twinkling and glittering in the sun, they appear- 

 ed like a starry shower, fixing the attention even 

 of the most incm'ions. 



These are known to be the work of a spider, 

 for they have been either caught in their bal- 

 loons, or been seen to take flight. To produce 

 such effi cts, their numbers of course must be 

 prodigious. Di-. Starch says, that twenty or thir- 

 ty often are found on a single stubble ; and adds, 

 " that he collected two thousand in half an hour, 

 and could easily have got twice as many had he 

 wished it." 



Dr. Lister has seen them in the air in vast 

 numbei'.s. The mode in which they mount is 

 strikingly singular. It is now generally admit- 

 ted that several kinds of spiders have a power 

 of darting out a thread in any direction, and to 

 a comparatively great distance. The mechan- 

 ism, however, of this extraordinary efl'ort is not 

 at all nnder-stood. I saw a spider descend from 

 a window-ledge, by means of a thre.'id, and gath- 

 ering up its legs, elevating it.s abdomen, and 

 lying on its back, it shot out another to the bricks, 

 as straight and direct as an arrow. The dis- 

 tance I am sure could not have been much less 

 than eight inches. 



This appears to be tiie mode adopted by the 

 bird spider. It shoots out a thread, which be- 

 ing lighter than the aii-, mounts, and buoys up 

 the insect itself, as the tail of a kite does the 

 body. Some of lliem, it would appear, not oidy 

 bestride their film, hut roll it u)) in a mass, and 

 thus sail in a balloon. 



"Every day in fine autunnial weather," says 

 White, "do 1 see these spiders shooting out 

 their web and motmling aloft. They will go ofi" 

 from the finger if you will take them into your 

 hand; last smunicr one alighted on my book, as 

 1 was reading in the parloi-, and ruiming to the 

 top of the page, and shooting out a web, look 

 ils departure from thence. But what I most 

 wonder at w.is, that it went off with considera- 

 ble velocity, in a place where no air was stir- 

 ring; and I am sure I ilid not assist it with my 

 breath; so lhattbe.se little crawlers seem to have, 

 while mounting, some locomotive power, without 

 the use of wings, and ujove faster than the air 

 in the air itself." Their motion in flying is 

 smoother and quicker than when a spider runs 

 tilong its thread. 



Tliere ;iic luany questions connected with our 

 tcron.'iuts, which ate more readily asked than 

 answered; and the first is, why do they mount 

 at all .' Kirby is of opinion that they are destin- 

 ed to thin the air of those swarms of gnats and 

 other insects, which ascend to considerable height 

 in the summer evenings, and as a corroboration 

 of his conjectures, ndd.s, that their exuvia" are 

 detected in the gossamers which have fiillen. 



It is doubted, also, whether the "sea of gauze 

 silvered with dew," which is found in the sum- 



mer .morning, covering the fellows, is ever car- 

 ried lip into the air. The dew itself is greedily 

 drank by tiiese spiders. The cause of llie show- 

 ers of gossamer is also a matter of disjHite among 

 naturalists. 



Spiders frequently manifest various irxxlifica- 

 tions of their instinctive craft and cruelty. There 

 are some species that lie concealed in a rolled 

 up leaf; and pounce U|)on any insect tliat may be 

 unwarily passing. Others that lurk in the cnp 

 of Ji flower, and murder the fly that conies to 

 seek honey. Others counterfeit death, and thus 

 inveigle their prey within their reach. Others 

 seek the blossoms of umbelliferous plants which 

 resemble them in color and in shape, and thus 

 entrap their victims. 



There is a tribe of hunting-spiders that leap 

 like tigers on their prey, and what is more ex- 

 traordinary have the fiiculty of doing so side- 

 ways. One of these jum)>ed two feet on a hum- 

 ble bee. They approach the object of their in- 

 tended attack with noi.seless and imperceptible 

 motion of the shadow of the sun-dial. If the fly 

 move, the spider moves also; backwards, for- 

 wards, or sideways, and that with so much pre- 

 cision as to time and distance, that the two in- 

 sects appeared as if bound together by some in- 

 visible chain, or actuated by the same spirit. If 

 the fly take wing and pitch behind the spider, 

 the head of the latter is turned round to meet 

 it so quickly, that the human eye is deceived, 

 and the spider appears to be motionless. When 

 all these manoeuvres bring the fly witbin its 

 spring, the leap is made with fearful rapidity, and 

 the prey struck down like lightning. 



The redeeming trait in the history of these 

 cruel creatures is, their affection for their young 

 All spiders envelope their eggs in a silken cocoon • 

 some hide them in clefts of walls, or in a cylinder 

 Ibrmed of leaves ; some carry them attached to 

 their abdomen, or bear them about as a cat lifts 

 its kitten : none ever desert their precious charge. 

 A spider, to be met with under clods of earth, 

 may frequently be seen to carry a silken globe 

 full of eggs fixed to its body. The tenacity of 

 affection exhibited towards this, its sole treasure, 

 is truly touching ; nothing, not even its life, is 

 valued in comparison with this little clobe. If 

 an attempt be made to deprive it of this valued 

 deposite, it strenuously resists ; take it away en- 

 tirely, and the insect remains motionless and 

 rooted to the spot, stupified and mekincholy : 

 restore it, and you restore the animal to life: it 

 eagerly seizes it, and runs off to place it in a 

 secure ipot. 



Bonnet threw one of these spiders, to whose 

 abdomen the bag of eggs was attached, into the 

 den of the ant-lion. The animal, as if aware of 

 its ilanger, instantly took to flight, but not quick- 

 ly enough to prevent the ant-lion from seizing 

 the bag of eggs between its formidable pincers ; 

 the mother made every effort to withdiaw herself 

 from her dangerous foe, and in the struggle the 

 bag became loosened, and was retained by her 

 enemy. Instead, however, of saving her own 

 life, which she could easily have done by rim- 

 ning ofl^, she instantly tnrneil and seized the bag 

 between her jaws, and struggled to retain her 

 lost treasure ; the enormous strength of the ant- 

 lion was too gieat fur her powers, even though 

 stimuliited by the full force of maternal instinct, 

 and the eggs were consequently drawn under 

 the sand ; still, however, she retained her hold, 

 and rather than relinquisli that, without which 

 lift; was a burden, she suftijied herself to be buried 

 alive with her progeny. It was now that Bonnet 

 compassioned her fate and rescued her fiom the 

 jaws of death, but he could not restore to her 

 the bag of eggs so tenaciously held by the ant- 

 lion. She lingered at the spot where the eggs 

 were bmicd, regardless alike of her own danger, 

 and of the efforts of Bonnet to remove her from 

 her enemy, by pushing her off with a piece of 

 twig. 



Her cares are not confined to the egg only, but 

 when the young themselves are evolved, she al- 

 lows them to cling to her body, until such time 

 as they shall become strong enough to hunt for 

 themselves ; and thus laden, she may be seen in 

 her ordinary haunts. Much has been said of the 

 venom of spiders, but De Geer and others, who 

 have made the experiment on themselves, have 

 never found any ill effects arising from the trial. 

 Spiders have been domesticated ; a Parisian 

 manufacturer kept and fed eight hundred of these 



