154 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
of her body. Clothed with her garment of air, 
she dives to the bottom, and transfers it beneath 
the prepared roof. She repeats this till the roof 
is raised by the quantity of air underneath, when 
an apartment is formed between the inner sur- 
face of the roof and the water below it; and 
here she lives quite at her ease, like a sea nymph 
in her enchanted cave. Both sexes form these 
abodes, and sometimes share them with each 
other, living peaceably together. This is the 
largest European species. 
Of all kinds, however, I think the flying 
spiders are the most curious. If you have never 
heard of them before, you will doubtless be sur- 
prised that any creature can fly without wings ; 
yet they may truly be said to fly in their chariots 
of gossamer, in which they quietly repose, and 
catch their prey as they sail along. Dr. Martin 
Lister observed these webs falling from the sky, 
and discovered in them more than once a spider. 
On another occasion, while he was watching a 
common spider, it suddenly turned upon its 
back, and darting forth a long thread, vaulted 
upwards, and was carried to a considerable 
height: he further discovered that while they 
fly in this manner, they pull in their thread with 
their fore-feet so as to form it into a ball: in 
