MID-AUTUMN ALONG THE OLD CANAL. 193 



A close examination revealed the presence of a great 

 many spiders of minute size on the surface of the posts 

 and wires. Their ahdomens were slightly raised and 

 from the spinnerets of each were issuing threads of 

 web material which soon hardened when exposed to 

 air. These, in time, formed a strand sufficiently long 

 to support the weight of the little spinners. Then, if. 

 the strand did not become entangled with some others, 

 the spiclerkin, letting go its hold upon the fence, took 

 a ride to the northward with the wind as a motor. 

 Wonderful balloonists they whose ancestors per- 

 formed like feats of aerial navigation ages before the 

 days of the first human aeronaut! 



Xumerous wild fruits and nuts, both edible and 

 unedible, are in autumn found along the banks of the 

 canal. T4ie former satisfy the sense of taste and are 

 usually dull in color but interesting in structure and 

 habit. Among them are two species of wild grapes, 

 one, the frost or chicken grape, Vitis cordifolia Michx., 

 with small black and shining berries which are very 

 sour; the other, the summer or fox grape, V. wstivalis 

 Michx., having the berries larger, with a sweet and 

 pleasant flavor and with their black skins covered 

 with a whitish bloom. The chief charm of the wild 

 grape lies, however, in the spreading, straggling habits 

 of the vine which covers many thorn and other homely 

 bushes, and forms in the angles of the old Virginia 

 rail fences those dense, leafy coverts which in summer 

 delight the brown thrush and make glad the heart of 

 the handsome chewink. 



The hazelnut, Corylus americana Walt., also flour- 

 ishes in this sandy soil and on this day many clumps 

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