THE MASTERY OF THE AIR 269 



the roof. If the wind should fall, the spider 

 can pay out more thread. It is quaintly like 

 the sailor furling and unfurling his sails. When 

 the spiders feel they have had enough of aerial 

 journeying, they wind in some thread and sink 

 to the ground. When ten thousand little 

 spiders do this about the same time there is 

 what is called a shower of gossamer. The 

 countless threads are seen on the hedgerow 

 and on the ploughed field and on the lea, and 

 if we kneel down and look against the light we 

 see the quivering, glistening maze an image 

 of the web of life itself. But what impresses 

 us most is the simple fact that a wingless 

 terrestrial creature journeys through the air. 

 It has attempted the apparently impossible and 

 achieved it. We are filled with a reasonable 

 wonder at the adventurousness of life. 



