36 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Turning over the stone, the first and most active 

 creature under it was a spider, who speedily made 

 up his mind to escape if possible. It is a curious 

 fact that, in the majority of cases, if you will turn 

 over a good-sized stone, the first, and often the 

 only living creature seen there will be a spider. If 

 there is any desire on the part of the observer to 

 capture it, the second fact discovered will be that 

 spiders are very active, and rather cunning. Some 

 people are under the impression that if we have a 

 dozen species of spiders in Britain, we have no more. 

 There is the House Spider, and the Garden Spider, 

 und the Money-spinner, and the Water Spider, and 

 — perhaps they know no more. But the fact is, 

 that some hundreds of spiders arc described in 

 Mr. Blackwall's splendid book, and it is very pro- 

 bable that it does not contain more than half, the 

 different species which inhabit our islands. This 

 little spider is not a quarter of an inch long, but it 



Mi 



Fig. 16. Walckenaera cri&tata. 



Las a very long name— it is Walckenaera cristata. 

 The figure is magnified (fig. Ifi), and gives some 

 idea of the appearance of this active little gentle- 

 man, for fortunately it was of the male sex. Some 

 people never look upon a spider except with feelings 

 of disgust. Ladies of delicate sensibilities have 

 been known to faint at the sight of one. Perhaps 

 this might be accounted for if Ovid's story were 

 true that a very clever lady was once transformed 

 into a spider. Arachne, excellently skilled at the 

 loom, had the presumption to challenge Minerva, 

 and, being defeated, hung herself in despair ; the 

 goddess, moved by pity, transformed her into a 

 spider. 



" Her usual features vanished from tlieir place, 

 Her body lessened all, but most her face : 

 Her slender fingers, hanging on each side, 

 With many joints, the use of legs supplied ; 

 A spider's bag the rest, from which she gives 

 A thread, and still by constant weaving lives." 



In memory of this unfortunate lady the whole 

 order of spiders are named Arachn'uhe, a graceful 

 tribute to skill and industry. The eight eyes and 

 absence of vocal powers are not accounted for in 

 this story; the transformation must have been a 

 wonderful one. 



The great variety in the arrangement of these 

 eight eyes in the different genera of spiders is 

 worthy of observation. In Walckenaera the front 

 part of the cephalo-thorax is usually elevated into 

 a kind of hump, and four eyes are placed about it 



in the form of a trapezoid or small square (fig. 17 a) ; 

 then on either side is another pair, placed one above 

 another, and close together. The eyes of each pair 

 placed at the side, in the little specimen found 

 under a stone, are the largest. The general colour 

 is brownish- black, the legs reddish-brown, and the 

 abdomen is hairy. It would be easy enough to 

 occupy a column in describing all the parts of this 

 interesting little creature, but, having no such in- 

 tention, I shall at once confine myself to those 

 organs which, in their complex development, 

 characterize the male, and on which microscopists 

 are invited to employ their instruments if they 

 desire a fresh field for observation. 



Fig. I", a. Profile i f cephalo-thorax of Walckenaera, with 

 eyes ; b, front view of palpus ; c, back view of palpus. 



Notice particularly in this, and all male spiders, 

 a pair of clubbed organs, something like antenna;, 

 which project in front, and are often curved down- 

 wards. These are the palpi. Probably their pur- 



Fig. 18. Palpus of Walckcneara displayed. 



pose is allied to that of the highly-developed an- 

 tenna; in most of the Anoplcura, and some of the 

 Entomostraca. As seen in the living animal (we 

 are forbidden to call spiders insects), the palpi are 

 more or less clubs (fig. 17), but when prepared and 

 flattened out, the parts are separated, and though 

 no longer resembling in form what they were in 

 their natural situation, and condition, they can be 

 more readily studied, and their very complex cha- 



