456 ARTICULATES : INSECTS. 



of transverse fissures or stigmata varying in number from 

 two to eight. Such are the true Spiders and Scorpions. 

 ARANEID^E, Latr., OR TRUE SPIDER FAMILY. - - This 

 Family contains pulmonary arachnida which have palpi 

 resembling feet, with no forceps at the end, or at most 

 terminated in the females by a little hook. The first 

 joint in the males gives origin to more or less compli- 

 cated sexual appendages. Their frontal cheliceras, or 

 forceps-antennae, or mandibles, - - for all these names 

 are applied to the same things, are terminated by a 

 movable hook, flexed inferiorly, underneath which, and 

 near its pointed extremity, is a little opening for the 

 passage of a venomous fluid contained in a gland of the 

 preceding joint. Their jaws are never more than two, 

 and the abdomen is always furnished with from four to 

 six closely approximated cylindrical or conical jointed 

 Fig. 35 6. protuberances with fleshy extrem- 



ities, which are perforated with 

 numberless small holes for the 

 passage of silky filaments, that 

 have their origin in internal res- 

 ervoirs. The newly spun filaments 

 are adhesive, and a certain amount 

 of drying is required to fit them 

 for their destined purposes. When 

 the temperature is favorable, a 

 single instant is sufficient to dry 

 and harden them. All the spiders 



Spider, Lycosa lenta, Hentz. t ] iat c ] o no t rO am about ill Search 



of prey weave webs of more or less compact tissue, and 

 varying in form according to the species, where insects 

 upon which they feed may become entangled. As soon 

 as an insect is caught in the web, the spider, hitherto at 

 the centre of his web, or at the bottom, or in a covert at 

 one corner, rushes towards his victim, and endeavors to 



