The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1881-11-25
RAIN or SPIDER WEBS.

u the Latter pari OF October tho good
PEOPLE OF Milwaukee, WI, aIia noig a.
boring towns were astUulshed Uy gen
eral tall of spider webs. The webs seem
ed To come from over The lake, ana
appeared 20 fall from Il great height.
The strands were from two feet 20 sew
eral rods in length. At Green Bay the
fall Was the same. coming from the di-
rection of the bay, only the webs varied
from sixty feet in length to mere specks,
and we-e seen as far up in the air as the
power of the eye could reach. AT Yes
burg and Fort Howard, ShebOygan and
OZaukee, the fall was similarly obseTv-
ed. in some places being SO thick as to
annOy the eve. In all instances he webs
were strong in texture and very white.
CuTiously there is no mention. in any
of the reports we have seen. of the pres
ence of spiders in this general shower of
webs. 1t is to be hoped that some CON-
petent observer-that is, some one who
has made study OF spiders and their
habits-was at hand and will report more
specifically the conditions of this inter-
estIng phenomenon.
Quite number of notable gossamer
showers have been reported in different
parts of the world White describes sew
eral in his history Of SelbOrne. In one
of them the iall continued nearly whole
day, the webs coming from such height
that from the top of the highest hill
near by they were seen descending from
2 region still above the range of distinct
vision.
Darwin describes a similar shower OBJ
served by him from the deck of the Ben
gle, off the mouth OF La Plata River.
when the vessel was sixty miles from
land. He was probably the first To no.
tice that each web of the gossamer car
ried Lillipu ian aeTonaut. He watch
ed the spiders on their arrival and saw
many of them put forth new web and
float away.
The behavior of the spiders when set
ting out on their aerial voyage has been
mlnutely described by a recent English
observer. The shower observed by him
occurred in September 1875, after a
thunderstorm without rain. He SAYS
About ten A. NJ. I noticed small spi-
ders running over my coat-sleeves, and
had to brush off several trails Os gOsSa-
mer webs. Looking around, l found
thar brick walls, houses. branches of
trees, etc., had these webs dangling from
them, and that other gossamer webs
were continually falling from above and
adding to the accumulation. By mid
day loug fence was festoonod from
point TO point OF its triangular rail-tops
with ribbOn-like ladder of gossamer
and this was growing broader and broad
er as the tiny creatures kept running
along this ladder, each increasing the
breadth 10y adding lis own contribution
Of another silken thread.
"On examining next an iron palisad-
ing near, 1 found it in a simibr condi-
tiOn, with the tops OF the iron spikes
connected by a vibrating silken ladder
of gOssamer, in some places nearly an
inch broad. All along this ladder the
little strangers were running in an excl
ted and hurried manner, as if they had
lost their way and had got into strange
country. Some, III travelling over their
1mprOvised road. U.ade mistakes and got
lutO bordering webs of the garden SDi-
der, where they were speedily davaUvt9.
About / P. NJ. the clouds cleared off. the
sun shOne out and ! noticed that some
of the spiders had begun to rpasceud
into the atmosphere. they might have
commenced tins rrd~ceusi1u earlier: hu'
on observing that some 5r,re :, aS,.rra
ing all my attention Was G. I'd fn sin
gle spiders. and this Is what saw: Fix
ing my eyes upon one OF them. | ubs-rv-
ed that as it lett Ihr gussstm.r pathway
1t seIected a clean SpUl on ,hp iron rail
r,aILar :, H,r;.s ,''o''' ~
se,,,ra1 ,I,LlJ ''' > H''nFi''~
ward and stretched upward from pine
to twelve inches Thcu this parachute
seemed 10 show buuyarj tendency aud
suddenly the lIEN CT al urc l-rf hold of
the iron rail. or WAS lifted uff it. and
sfto, .,,,otI,.,- 81, '.','' o.
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eoatcd f,,,. '"e 'lI d.
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