374 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Arachne was in despair and hung herself, whereupon Minerva's 

 chagrin was so great that she transformed her into a spider, and 

 her descendants preserve much of her skill. 



We are apt to think of spiders as insects, but really they are 

 only distantly related to insects, their first cousins being scor- 

 pions and king crabs. The spider's body consists of two parts. 



It has four pairs of legs, a pair of palpi, 

 ^.^^^i^'^^^^l and a pair of mandibles. The legs are 



^ jointed, and on the last joint there are 

 y - -^^ ^i.t'^^c^'' three claws. The palpi are used as feel- 

 ^Z,'*'^^'*^' ers and to hold the food. The breath- 



ing apparatus of the spider is a combi- 

 Spider's Claw, enlarged. nation of luugs and gills. _ It has glands 



containing poison which lie partly in the 

 head and partly in the basal joint of the mandibles. There is a 

 tiny opening in the claw on the mandible, out of which the poison 

 flows when the spider captures its prey. It has eight eyes. The 

 spiders are classified largely by the difiierent arrangements and 

 grouping of the eyes. Some have them in one or more clusters, 

 some in rows, and others scattered about. They appear to be able 

 to see as well by night as by day. Near the end of the body are 

 the spinnerets two, three, or four pairs out of which the silk 

 comes for weaving the webs, nests, and ^^^ cocoons. 



Usually the female spider is much larger and stronger than 

 the male. One naturalist thus graphically describes their wedded 

 life : " Their honeymoon is of short duration, and is terminated 

 by the bride's banqueting on the bridegroom. Doubtless she 

 evinces taste and discrimination in her appreciation of a ' nice 

 young man.'" 



Spiders, like lobsters and other crustaceans, have the power of 

 reproducing certain parts if they happen to meet with an injury, 

 as legs, palpi, and spinnerets. 



We find as marked differences in habits, tastes, and characters 

 among spiders as among human beings. Some kinds prefer al- 

 ways living in houses or cellars, not seeming to care for any fresh 

 air or out-of-door exercise. Mr. Jesse tells of two spiders that 

 lived for thirteen years in opposite corners of a drawer which 

 was used for soap and candles. Others delight in making bur- 

 rows in the earth, in dwelling under stones or behind the loose 

 bark on trees, and others live under water. Many never leave 

 their webs, but patiently wait, hoping some insect will become 

 entangled in the snares they have set. Others dash about and 

 seize upon every luckless insect that crosses their path. The most 

 adventurous of all are those that sail out into the world on one of 

 their own little threads. Darwin tells of encountering thousands 

 of them many leagues from land when he was taking his famous 



