78 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



French general wherein he pledged himself, from the peculiar actions of 

 the spiders, of whose movements he was able to judge with perfect accu- 

 racy, that within fourteen days there would be a severe frost, which would 

 make the French masters of all the rivers, and afford them sufficient time 

 to complete and make sure the conquest which they had commenced 

 before it would be followed by a thaw. The commander of the French 

 forces, it is stated, believed these prognostications, and pushed on his 

 armies. The cold weather, as Disjonval had predicted, made its appear- 

 ance in twelve days, and with such intensity that the ice upon the rivers 

 and canals was capable of bearing the heaviest artillery. On the 28th of 

 January, 1795, the French army entered Utrecht in triumph, and Disjonval, 

 as a reward of his ingenuity, was released from prison. 1 



One might think that, under the circumstances, the French captive 



would have been safe in predicting a change from a sudden thaw to 



severe cold in the Netherlands at that season of the year. No 



great amount of prophetic skill would be required to make a 

 planation 



success in like circumstances at least nine times out of ten. 



Nevertheless, a prediction based upon such commonplace affairs as the 

 ordinary course of the weather would doubtless have produced no impres- 

 sion upon the mind of the commanding general ; but when fortified by 

 the strange and mysterious association with the behavior of spiders the 

 prediction must have appealed powerfully to the imagination, and, sup- 

 posing the truth of the story at all, have turned the balance in favor of 

 the plan recommended by Disjonval. Nevertheless, the spiders obtained 

 and have retained credit for the matter. 



The popular notion that spiders are reliable barometers of weather 

 changes is thus well expressed by the late Mr. Wood : Spiders are all very 

 chary of using their silk, and never trouble themselves to make 

 The Pop- we )j S w hen a storm is impending. They are, therefore, excellent 

 barometers, and if they all take to mending their nets or spin- 

 ning new webs, fine weather is always at hand.' 2 It has hap- 

 pened to me numbers of times to hear predictions of the weather based 

 upon the condition of spider webs, made by American farmers in various 

 parts of the country. From what I have heard I imagine that the notion 

 is widespread, particularly throughout the Middle and part of the New 

 England States. 



I have tried to find whether there exists in Nature any sufficient basis 

 for this opinion, and to that end have made numerous notes of my ob- 

 servations. It is undoubtedly true that spiders are sensitive to weather 

 changes, that is to say, extremely cold weather or long protracted rains 

 will keep them in or drive them to their nests or other retreats under 



1 Quarterly lirvicw for January, 1844, quoted by Cowan. 



2 Rev. J. G. Wood, " Homes Without Hands," page :!20. 



