4S6 THE GOSSAMER SPIDER. 



The male constructs for himself one near that of 

 the female, and afterward breaks through the 

 thread walls of the female's dwelling ; and the two 

 bubbles, attached to the bellies of both, unite into 

 one, forming one large chamber. 



The female takes care of the young, and con- 

 structs similar apartments for them. 



The figure of this spider has in it nothing remark- 

 able, and will be overlooked among a crowd of 

 curiosities, if the spectator be unacquainted with 

 its singular art of constructing an aerial habitation 

 under water, and thus availing itself of the proper- 

 ties of both elements. It lodges, during the win- 

 ter, in empty shells, which it dexterously closes up 

 with a web. 



THE GOSSAMER SPIDER*. 



The following observations on the origin of the 

 Gossamer, by M. Bechstein, a German naturalist, 

 are curious, and convey a more accurate account of 

 it than I have been able to meet with in any other 

 writer. 



" Some naturalists (says this gentleman) have 

 considered this phenomenon as the evaporation of 

 plants condensed, during the cool days of harvest, 

 by the air, and converted into threads like those 

 which can be drawn from resinous juices; others, 

 as the production of a kind of spider, on account 

 of its similarity to the threads of common spiders : 



* Aranea Obtextrix ? 



