the other to fix its threads, it must have been obliged to cross the water, which appeared to me improbable, as the animal was not of the aquatic kind.

'I removed, by means of a feather, the small spider from the middle of its web; and, to be sure that no floating thread adhered to it, I moved another feather several times around that on which the spider was placed. I then gave it a gentle shake, which made the insect descend seven or eight inches, extending its legs and spinning. It then remained stationary, in a horizontal situation, having all its legs folded up on its belly, where it had applied its thread; so that it seemed to be suspended by the middle of its body. I saw it, from time to time, make half a turn, very speedily, sometimes to the right and sometimes to the left, and this movement was perfectly spontaneous; for there was no agitation in the air or the feather, which I had fixed to the back of a chair. After being suspended in this manner half an hour, the small spider made a sudden spring towards my breast, raising itself rapidly by an oblique line, which made an angle of 40 or 50° with the perpendicular. I repeated this experiment several times; and I always observed that the spider, after having remained a few moments suspended, constantly rose in an oblique direction, in order to reach some neighbouring object.

6

My attention being diverted by something else, I did not then carry my observations any farther; but, in the month of Thermidor last, having found under my shrubs one of these spiders, about the size of a grain of hemp-seed, I resumed my former experiments; and, being furnished with a magnifying glass, I attentively examined every thing that passed at the moment when the spider was in suspension. It was not long before I saw, very distinctly, a pretty large thread issue from the spider, and rise diagonally, making with the thread of suspension an angle of about 45°. This thread was lengthened about seven

or eight inches, at least, per second. When the thread reached a neighbouring body, it remained there attached; and the insect then making half a turn, darted out another on the opposite side, and proceeded thus alternately five or six times. The spider then mounted with rapidity, and traversed these different threads, which became stretched horizontally, by I know not what operation, though at first they would have formed an angle of 90°, the summit of which was occupied by the suspended animal. Soon after I saw a multitude of other threads established between these principal ones; and the work was carried on with so much rapidity, that it was impossible for me to follow it minutely. The net-work seemed as if formed by magic; but no doubt remained to me respecting the principal fact, which is the emission of the large transversal threads; an operation not performed by chance, but design, and which might be compared perhaps to the extension of the long

tentacula of certain marine animals.'

Few flowers are to be seen in this month; the woodbine and some other kinds, however, blow a second time, but they have lost their fine scent'. Yet, the green-house is now in perfection, and will amply compensate for the deficiency.

What Mrs. Tighe has said of the Lily may be applied to other flowers at this season:

How withered, perished, seems the form
Of you obscure unsightly root!
Yet from the blight of wintry storm
It hides secure the precious fruit.
The careless eye can find no grace,
No beauty in the scaly folds,
Nor see within the dark embrace
What latent loveliness it holds.

Yet in that bulb, those sapless scales,

The Lily wraps her silver vest,

Till vernal suns and vernal gales

Shall kiss once more her fragrant breast.

As flowers now decay, and the bees cannot procure any farther support, this is the season for taking the honey. To obtain this precious article, the industrious collectors are destroyed with the fumes of burning brimstone. Various methods have been proposed to save the lives of the bees; but they are found so materially to reduce the profits of the owners, that it will be long before they are generally adopted.

The taking of wild-fowl commences, by Act of Parliament, on the 1st of October, and the decoybusiness is at the greatest height about the end of the month. Great numbers of wild ducks and other waterfowl are annually caught in the extensive marsh lands of Lincolnshire in this way.-See T. T. for 1814, p. 275.

The weather in October is peculiarly favourable to the sports of the field; and hunting is now at its height, as little damage is committed on the farmers' grounds after the gathering of the harvest :

With hound and horn, o'er moor, and hill, and dale,
The chase sweeps on; no obstacle they heed,

Nor hedge, nor ditch, nor wood, nor river wide.

The redbreast now 'chaunts aloud his cheerful strain.' The following tribute to this bird, as coming from a keen sportsman,' is too valuable to be passed over in silence :

Sweet robin! oft to catch

Thy grateful song my footsteps have I stayed
Beside some antient wood, or nearer home
Have heard thee pour thy pleasing melody
From ivy-mantled arch, or straggling branch
Of self-sown ash on the high ruined wall.
And when an elvish boy, on plunder bent,
In Spring I searched the hedge with eager eye:
If chance e'er led me to thy mossy nest,
My hands forbore to seize the tempting prize,
That spared that prize alone. Ne'er would I set
For thee the treach'rous springle in the snow,
But gladly feed thee with the scattered crumbs.

Or when an awkward lad, I first essayed
To use my gun, and urged my petty sport
'Mid hawthorn bushes in the sheltered lane,
Thy scarlet breast was as a seven-fold shield,
To guard thee from my shot.

FOWLING, a Poem.

Pheasant-shooting takes place in this month, and the fall of that bird is thus feelingly described by the same author:

The gun resounds:

I saw him fall beneath the mossy branch

Of that wide-spreading oak. Yes, there he lies!
His vivid plumage, like a heap of gems

On a coarse carpet spread, seems all too rich
For the rough russet ground on which it lies.
Fellows in death, as of the self-same wood
Inhabitants, which idly they supposed
Their own peculiar and secure abode.

:

The sowing of wheat is generally completed in this month when the weather is too wet for this occupation, the farmer ploughs up the stubble fields for winter-fallows. Acorns are sown at this season, and the planting of forest and fruit-trees takes place.

Description of Forest Trees.

[Continued from p. 280.]

QUICKEN-TREE (Sorbus aucuparia).—The quickentree, or mountain-ash, is an indigenous shrub grow-ing in woods and hedges; in mountainous and boggy situations. In Scotland and the northern parts of England it is known by the name of the rowan-tree, and attains a considerable size. It flowers in the

month of May. The mountain-ash flourishes best on the sides of hills, in sheltered situations, and in fertile lands. It forms part of many ornamental plantations, on account of the beauty of its growth, flowers, and foliage, and particularly of its red berries; which, being produced in great abundance, afford a charming appearance from the end of autumn, till they are devoured by thrushes, who are exceed

ingly fond of the berries, blackbirds, &c., in the winter. The wood is soft, tough, and durable, being advantageously converted into tables, spokes for wheels, chairs, &c.: the roots are likewise very firm, and are formed into spoons, handles for knives, and similar utensils. When toxology was in fashion, the wood of the mountain-ash was used for the purpose of making bows.

SALLOW. See Willow.

SERVICE, WILD. See Hawthorn, p. 184, 185.
SYCAMORE. See Maple, p. 217, 218.

WALNUT-TREE (juglans regia).—The walnuttree is originally a native of Persia, and attains, in this country, the height of from fifty to sixty feet; having a beautiful erect trunk, that branches out into a large spreading crown, which is furnished with pinnated leaves. There are numerous varieties, generally raised for their palatable fruit, which ripens from the beginning of September till the end of October. The fruit of the walnut-tree is used at two different periods of its growth, when green for pickling, and in a ripe state at the dessert. For the former purpose, the nuts are fit in July or August, when they are about half or three-fourths grown. Walnuts are ripe in the months of September and October, when they are usually beaten down by means of long poles.

No place of equal extent is supposed to possess so many valuable walnut-trees, as Norbury Park in Surrey, which, about a century ago, was said to contain about forty thousand. It is remarked as a proof of the uncertainty of their produce, that, in some years, six hundred pounds worth of walnuts have been gathered from the trees in this park, whereas, in others, they have yielded scarcely a single bushel. Croydon fair is remarkable for its profusion of wal

nuts.