The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1881-03-31
-, ,.o"ra,r5t WELLINGTON O.. THURSDAY 81,
blue-bottle becomes completely hidden

blue-bottle becomes completely hidden
as they SwarnA over it, When the fam
lily is thus dining, so still and quiet are
they that they give the observer, at
first sight. the Impression that he Is
looking upon an unripe raspberry
which has dropped into the web, the
small globular bodies, packed closely
together, so exactly resemble the un-
ripe seeds of this fruit. y
Then there are wandering or WOLF
spiders enough in our fields to account
for the network Of webs that dewy
morning reveals. The webs are there,
dew or no dew; but when covered with
dew or hoar-frost, they are revealed to
every eye. The female wolf-spider
IA -a,,ea UidticdJ may be found about
the end of June carrying a spherical bag
as big as herself. which is full of young
wolf-spider eggs. These are hatched
about July; and when we consider that
each individual spider begins to travel
on its own behoof, and Invariably leaves
a thread in its track, it is not very re-
markable that every dewy morning in
autumn should reveal pastures covered
with sparkling spidcr-silk; and it may
be these wanderers, and not the gossa-
mer spider, which give -1ur fields this
appearance. l hare seen, when looking
across pasture towards tie de-
Ginning sun, streak of sunlight reflect
ed from these webs which reminded me
of rainbow, and this prismatic streak
moved on as walked along. This con-
vinced me that our meadows are COW
cred in autumn with a silken sheen
which is revealed in prismatic colors by
the evening sun, and as frosted silver
by the hoar-frost or morning dew.
Since, then, it is unsafe to conclude
that the dew-revealed webs of the
autumn mornings are those of the
gossamer spider, let us turn to the
latter. which so rarely appears amongst
us. in showers at least, to ascertain
what is clearly known OF its ways. and
if any idea of its native haunts is at
tainable. These gossamer spiders have
been seen descending from q consider
able altitude in the atmosphere, and
shortly afterwards individual spiders
have been observed one alter another
to reascend, as if they were returning
to their native place; and may not their
peculiar "happy hunting-ground" be in
the atmosphere?
So far back as Chaucer. we find
.Igossamer" amongst the mysteries of
natural phenomena; and in the old
nursery rhyme:
20 whittier. o whittier, o whittier 40 high?"
ITO sweep the cobwebs out OF thes ~
we may have fair proof that gossamer-
spider showers had been noted long
ago, and a possible proof that these
tiny waits were then suspected to be in
habitants of the atmosphere. ae-
- The first and densest spider-shower
ever observed by me occurred in
September, 1875, and the second
were / saw them reascending only
in September, 1880. Colbert White of
Selborne observed one of these showers
inl741. On the morning of the shower
in 1915, there had been some electrical
disturbance. There had been one loud
peal of thunder. but no rain. About ten
a. m. noticed small spiders running over
my coat sleeves, and had to brush of
several trails OF gossamer-web. Look
ing round, found that the brick-walls,
houses, branches of trees, etc. had
these webs dangling from them, and
that other gossamer-webs were con-
tinually falling from above, and adding
to the accumulation. By midday, q
long fence was fcstooncd from point to
point OF its triangular rail-tops with a
ribbon-like ladder o. gossamer; and this
was growing broader and broader as
the tiny creatures kept running along
this ladder, each Increasing the breadth
by adding his own contribution of an
other siiken thread.
On examining next an iron palisading
near found it in q similar condition.
with the tops of the iron spikes con-
nec;ed by vibrating s:lken ladder of
gossamer. in some places nearly an inch
broad. All along this ladder the little
strangers were running in an excited
and hurried manner, as if they had lost
their way, and had got into strange
country Some. in travelling over their
improvised road, made mistakes. and
got into bordering webs of the garden
spider, where they were speedily de-
voured. About one p. m. the clouds
cleared off. the sun shone out. aud no
ticed that some of the spiders had be-
gun to reascend into the atmosphere.
They might have commenced this reas-
cension earlier; but on observing that
some icsre reascending, all my attention
was devoted to single spiders; and this
is what saw. Fixing my eyes upon
one of them, observed that as it left
the gossamer pathway it selected a
clean spot on the iron railing, and, gath
ering its limbs closely together, it pro-
jected from its spinnerets several
threads which expanded outwards, and
stretched upward from nine to twelve
inches. Then this parachute seemed to
show buoyant tendency. and suddenly
the tiny creature left hold of the iron
rail, or was lifted off it, and quickly
vanished into thin air." One after
another l closely watched, with the
same general result; though once or
twice when the spider left the rail it
floated for q few seconds in an almost
horizontal direction, prior to changing
it for an approximately vertical one.
They, however, disappeared from sight
so quickly that the angle of ascent
could only be guessed at. This, how
ever, may be set down. as the rule. at
from ninety TO one hundred and twenty
degrees.
The second spider-shower I saw was
not so interesting, rs / did not observe
the descent, but only the reascent OF
some odd ones. This, however, was
effected in exactly the same manner as
has been already described; and the few
saw were again ascending from an
iron palisading, fully a mile away from
that on which observed them in 1875.
Now. after having watched these
clever little aeronauts manufacture, in
few seconds, fairy balloon capable
of carrying them into the upper regions,
and pondering overt these singular facts.
it occurred to me that possibly the real
home of gossamer spiders may be in the
blue ether, where, in the wonderful
economy of nature, they may have their
appointed work to do. Or, it may be
that these Lilliputian roamers through
space, like the migratory birds, have
their appointed periods for going in one
direction and returning in another. II
SO, thew will naturally collect together
for their migrations, and may occasion
ally have to rest on their journey, as
swallows do OH the rigging of ships at
sea; hence. probably, these mysterious
spider-showers. The migratory birds