CHAPTER I. 



GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AND STRUCTURE. 



The order Aranese has given the name of the true spiders, which it 

 embraces, to the class of invertebrates to which it belongs, Arachnida. This 

 - . . name, again, is due to that special function by which the spider 



th N ^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ been popularly known. According to the Greek 



myth, Arachne was transformed into a spider by Pallas Minerva 

 because she had boasted her superiority over that goddess in the use of the 

 distaff. Hence the Greek name for spider {dpdyyrj), arachne. The Eng- 

 lish name is doubtless derived from the same function which led the un- 

 happy Arachne upon her doom.^ Spider is a corruption of "spinder," the 

 spinning one. The word survives in a different form in the term " spinster," 

 by which the virgin mistress of the distaff was 

 commonly known in the days of our grand- 

 sires. There is therefore a popular and phil- 

 ological as well as natural fitness in the gen- 

 eral classification of the order Aranese which 

 we adopt after Thorell,^ wlio in turn has 

 substantially followed the arrangement of La- 

 treille.^ 



This classification is based upon the web 

 making characteristics of the various groups 



and is as follows : The order may be 



divided into two principal groups, 



the Sedentary spiders and the AVan- 



dering spiders.^ The former group 

 includes those whose habit it is to remain, for 

 the most part, upon or within their webs and take their prey by means of 

 snares. The second group includes those which stalk or pursue their prey 



^ See Ovid's Metamorphoses, Chap. vi. The story is told in the first 150 Hnes. 



2 On European Spidoi-s, by T. Thorell. Nova Acta Reg. Soe. Scientariuni UpsaUensis. 

 Upsala, 18G9. 



^ Latreille : In Cuvicr's "Le Resrne Animal," edition 1S17, ParlH. Pedentaires (Sedentary), 

 page 79 ; Vagabondes (Wandering), page 95 ; Territeles, page 79 ; TubiteK-.^, page 81 ; Inequi- 

 teles (Retitelariae), page 84 ; Orbiteles, page 8G ; Laterigrades, page 91 ; Citigrades, page 95 ; 

 Saltigrades, page 98. 



(15) 



General 

 Classifi- 

 cation. 



Fig. 1. An Orbweaver, Epeira gemma. 



