Its Stock Of Web Seemed Inexhaustible.
While Watching Some That Were Suspended By A
Single Thread, I Several Times Observed That The Slightest
Breath Of Air Bore Them Away Out Of Sight, In A Horizontal
Line.
On another occasion (25th) under similar circumstances,
I repeatedly observed the same kind of small spider,
either when placed or having crawled on some little eminence,
elevate its abdomen, send forth a thread, and then
sail away horizontally, but with a rapidity which was quite
unaccountable.
I thought I could perceive that the spider,
before performing the above preparatory steps, connected
its legs together with the most delicate threads, but I am not
sure whether this observation was correct.
One day, at St. Fe, I had a better opportunity of observing
some similar facts. A spider which was about three-tenths
of an inch in length, and which in its general appearance
resembled a Citigrade (therefore quite different from the
gossamer), while standing on the summit of a post, darted
forth four or five threads from its spinners. These, glittering
in the sunshine, might be compared to diverging rays of
light; they were not, however, straight, but in undulations
like films of silk blown by the wind. They were more than a
yard in length, and diverged in an ascending direction from
the orifices. The spider then suddenly let go its hold of the
post, and was quickly borne out of sight. The day was hot
and apparently calm; yet under such circumstances, the
atmosphere can never be so tranquil as not to affect a vane so
delicate as the thread of a spider's web.
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