find particulars in the latter, showing that a violent controversy raged through the three first volumes between Mr. Blackwall and Dr. Murray on the question whether the ascent of this spider (A.  AEronautica) was electric, or whether it merely travelled in the direction of the wind.  But if “A Young Inquirer” would deserve his name, let him begin with these spiders and observe for himself; he will find the inquiry highly interesting.

He has no doubt frequently seen a small black spider creeping on his hat or clothes (if he lives in the country this must have occurred to him many times); this is the aeronautic spider.  Let him take this upon his hand, and if he be in the house let him carry it to the open door or window, and allow it to creep up to the tip of his finger, which he must then hold in a horizontal position.  When the spider finds it can proceed no further by creeping, it generally drops a few inches, where it remains suspended for a short time, apparently quite still, but if very closely observed another thread (Gossamer) may be seen proceeding from its vent, and when this has reached the length which the spider’s instinct tells it is sufficient for the purpose, it cuts off the connection till then existing between it and the thread by which it has hitherto been suspended from the finger, and floats away into space.  Very often it rises almost vertically, sometimes its course is nearly horizontal, and sometimes it is oblique.

I cannot say, as Mr. Murray does, that I have seen the spider go against the wind, neither can I confirm Mr. Blackwall’s assertions that he always goes right before the wind, for I have seen him go apparently across the current, so far as I could judge of the direction of the wind at the time.

If “A Young Inquirer” makes the experiment I have suggested, let him not be discouraged if the first he tries does not go off at all, as I have sometimes found this to be the case, which I accounted for by supposing that possibly the supply of materials might be exhausted at the time.

I do not remember that I ever saw one of these aeronautic spiders preying upon any insect, yet it must be for some such purpose that they ascend to great altitudes, sometimes in countless numbers, and the way they come down again is quite as curious as the manner in which they ascend.

Many years since, as I was walking over the hills in the neighbourhood of Blackburn, on a bright, still morning in September, thousands of small locks of what looked like cotton wool were slowly descending to the ground from various altitudes—­ some as high as I could see—­and tens of thousands of similar locks were lying on the ground on both sides of the path by which I was travelling; and on examination I found that all these locks were Gossamer, some with the spider still with them, but generally deserted.  The spiders when they wanted to come down, finding there was no descending current of air, or perhaps, as Mr. Murray says, no electricity, determined to descend in parachutes; they therefore had drawn up their cables hand over hand (as they may often be seen to do when they wish to ascend their own lines) until they accumulated a mass heavy enough to fall by its own weight, and carry them along with it.