114 EYE SPY 



handed down in history, and were always a mys- 

 tery. Even the ancient Pliny records a " rain of 

 wool," a phenomenon which, in a greater or less 

 degree, is to be seen by every walker in the coun- 

 try during the late summer and autumn months — 

 the annual picnic of the " ballooning spiders," 

 whose peculiar aeronautic methods are shown in 

 my illustration. 



Gilbert White, in his " History of Selborne," 

 written over a hundred years ago, gives a 

 most graphic account of one of these cobweb 

 showers : 



"On September the 21st, 1 741," he says, " being 

 then on a visit, and intent on field diversions, I 

 rose before daybreak. When I came into the en- 

 closures, I found the stubbles and clover grounds 

 matted all over with a thick coat of cobweb, in 

 the meshes of which a copious and heavy dew 

 hung so plentifully that the whole face of the 

 country seemed as it were covered with two or 

 three setting-nets drawn one over another. When 

 the dogs attempted to hunt, their eyes were so 

 blinded and hoodwinked that they could not pro- 

 ceed, but were obliged to lie down and scrape off 

 the encumbrances from their faces with their 

 fore feet, so that finding my sport interrupted, I 

 returned home musing on the oddness of the oc- 

 currence. . . . About nine o'clock an appearance 

 very unusual began to demand my attention — a 



