Editorial note — Translated From Etudes Religieuses, Etc., Par Des Peres De La Compagnie De Jesus. The Flight Of Spiders. A Paper Read Before The French Academy Of Science, March, 1867.

[Footnote 96: In M. Eugène Simon's Natural History of Spiders, the most recent work of the kind, he says, speaking of the manner in which l'épéire diadème constructs its web: "Several authors suppose that the spider darts its thread like an arrow, others imagine it throws it upward in the air while flying as a fly would; but neither of these explanations rests on observation, and they are, after all, simple hypotheses." Then, describing his own observation as to how a spider acts to make fast its great threads, he says, "It seems to take a horizontal position, and moves contrary to the wind." M. Simon's work gives us nothing else to lead us to suppose he has observed the wonders spoken of.—Tr.]