This curious ballooning habit of young Spiders is independent of the particular family to which they belong, and it is remarkable that newly-hatched Lycosidae and Aviculariidae, whose adult existence is spent entirely on or under the ground, should manifest a disposition to climb any elevated object which is at hand. The “Gossamer,” which so puzzled our forefathers, is probably no mystery to the reader. It is, of course, entirely the product of Spider industry, though not altogether attributable to the habit of ballooning above described. Only a small proportion of gossamer flakes are found to contain spiders, though minute insects are constantly to be seen entangled in them. They are not formed in the air, as was supposed long after their true origin was known, but the threads emitted by multitudes of spiders in their various spinning operations have been intermingled and carried away by light currents of air, and on a still, warm day in spring or autumn, when the newly-hatched spider-broods swarm, the atmosphere is often full of them. They rise to great heights, and may be carried to immense distances. Martin Lister relates how he one day ascended to the highest accessible point of York Minster, when the October air teemed with gossamer flakes, and “could thence discern them yet exceeding high” above him. Gilbert White describes a shower, at least eight miles in length, in which “on every side, as the observer turned his eyes, he might behold a continual succession of fresh flakes falling into his sight, and twinkling like stars as they turned their sides toward the sun.” The ascent of a hill 300 feet in height did not in the least enable him to escape the shower, which showed no sign of diminution. The mortality among very young spiders must be exceedingly great; indeed, this is indicated by the large number of eggs laid by many species, an unfailing sign of a small proportion of ultimate survivors. We shall have, by and by, to speak of some of their natural enemies, but apart from these their numbers are sadly reduced by the rigours of the weather, and appreciably also by their tendency to cannibalism. A thunderstorm will often destroy a whole brood, or they may perish from hunger in the absence of an adequate supply of insects minute enough for their small snares and feeble jaws. In the latter case they sometimes feed for a time on one another, and it is even said that two or three of a brood may be reared on no other food than their unfortunate companions. The large and handsome Garden-spider, _Epeira diademata_, has been known, when well fed, to construct six cocoons, each containing some hundreds of eggs, and some species are even more fertile, while their adult representatives remain stationary, or even diminish in number.