FLYING SPIDERS. 151 
isted at all; for, on referring to my meteorological journal, I find 
that a strong gale from the south prevailed during the greater 
part of the day. A circumstance so extraordinary could not fail 
to excite curiosity ; but what more particularly arrested my atten- 
tion was the ascent of an amazing quantity of webs of an irregu- 
lar, complicated structure, resembling ravelled silk of the finest 
quality and clearest white. They were of various shapes and 
to th ound, acted with much f to arate 
them from the objects to which they were attached, raising them 
into th here to'a perpendicular height of at least several 
hundred feet. I collected a number of these webs about midday, 
rent had ceased to support them, and they were falling ; but 
scarcely one in twenty contained a spider, though on minute in- 
spection, I found small winged insects, chiefly aphides, entangled 
in most of them. 
‘From contemplating this unusual display of gossamer, my 
thoughts were naturally directed to the animals which produced 
it; and the countless myriads in which they swarmed created al- 
most as much surprise as the singular occupation that engrossed 
them. Apparently actuated by the same impulse, all were intent 
upon traversing the regi 
mmi i 
ing just described was repeated.” 
