386 ON THE ASCENT OF THE SPIDER 
From the highest point of the Cathedral of York, Dr 
Lister beheld the gossamer-webs floating far above him. 
Mr White of Selborne confirms, by actual observation, 
Dr Lister''s account. He noticed a spider dart off from the 
page he was then perusing, and, though the atmosphere 
was tranquil, it rapidly ascended. 
It has been considered that this property is not peculiar 
to one species, but that several spiders, when young, can 
so elevate themselves. 
Mr White conceived that spiders in their transit through 
the atmosphere could coil up their threads, and descend 
ad libitum from their aerial excursions, altering in this 
manner their specific gravity. 
I am not aware that any have attempted to describe the 
gossamer-spider as a distinct and peculiar species, Bechstein 
and Starck excepted ; but they seem to describe different 
species. 
Thus the former describes it as being the size of a small 
pin's head, having eight eyes disposed in a circle ; body of 
a dark-brown colour, and light-yellow legs. 
Starck describes his one as extending more than two 
lines in length, eyes in the form of a square, tw6 on each 
side, in contact with each other ; thorax of a deep-brown 
colour, with paler streaks ; the under side of the abdomen 
of a dull white, and a dark copper-brown colour above, 
having a dentated white spot running longitudinally down 
the middle. 
Dr Starck imprisoned several of these under a bell-glass, 
on a grass-plat, and he tells us they existed two months 
without food, though they took water greedily. 
Mr White observed a remarkable phasnomenon on 21st 
September 1741. Early in the morning the v/hole country 
was enveloped in a coat of cobweb, wet with dew. His 
dogs (being on a shooting excursion) were blinded by them. 
