188 THE UNIVERSE. 



any profit. Entomologists, however, relate that Louis XIV. 

 had a dress made of it for himself, but the want of strength 

 in this newly invented cloth soon disgusted him with his 

 fantasy. But it appears that the webs of some American 

 species possess a sufficient power of resistance to admit of 

 being employed for this purpose. Alcide d'Orbigny had a 

 pair of trousers made of spider-webs, which lasted a very 

 long time. 



Some years ago, on a magnificent autumn morning, I was 

 walking in the vast meadows which border the Seine ; the 

 sky was azure, and the sun was shining splendidly. What 

 was my astonishment at seeing that the entire surface of 

 the freshly-mown grass was covered with a net- work of 

 fabulous delicacy ! 



The rays of light, gleaming obliquely upon this immense 

 white veil, made the whole surface of it iridescent ; and the 

 harmonious regularity of this sheet of silk, which extended 

 further than the eye could see, was only interrupted by the 

 rents made by the grazing cattle, the limbs of which, cov- 

 ered with silky flakes, bore witness to their theft of the del- 

 icate gauze. Finally, here and there some of these white 

 filaments, borne by the breeze over the surface of the 

 meadows, floated in the atmosphere, and fell upon our 

 dresses. 



I had come by accident upon all the phases of a phenom- 

 enon, the mystery of which our savants have long been 

 unable to penetrate. This silky tissue, spread over all the 

 herbage, was the work of myriads of little spiders, beauti- 

 fied by the splendor of the heavens. And these flakes 

 wandering in the air represented fragments of it, being 



