THE MASTERY OF THE AIR 269 
as we see one doing when it reascends the 
thread by which it has lowered itself half- 
way from 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, glisten- 
ing 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 appar- 
ently impossible and achieved it. We are 
filled with a reasonable wonder at the adven- 
turousness of life. 
