( 37 ) 



orgaris or weapons anfwering every purpofe of a fling, wliicli are 

 placed in front of its head juil below the eyes, and when not in ufev 

 thev lie between the two (horter feet. 



Thefe weapons or inftruments of offence, which are bent in the 

 nature of claws, are very fnnilar to the fting of the Scorpion and the 

 fangs of the *Millcpeda of India, and in each of thefe fangs (for fo I 

 will call thesn ■ is a Imall aperture, through v/Jiich, in all probability, 

 a liquid poifon is emitted by the Spider at the time it inflifts the 

 wound. 



\tfg. 1.9, ABCDEFGHIKLM, are reprefented both thefe 

 fangs as fcen through the microfcope : BC, is one of them when 

 lying (till, H I K (hews the other, railed to llrike. At C and I, is to 

 be i'een the fniall aperture'^ I have mentioned, \\ hich aperture ap- 

 pears the fame on both fides of each fang, and through this we may 

 reafonably conclude that the Spider ejec^ts its venom. At the letters 

 EFG, is a double row of teeth, between which each fang is placed 

 when at reft, and the ufe of thefe teeth feems to me to be for the 

 lirmer grafping the prey, that when bitten it may not eicape. All 

 the other parts of thefe weapons or organs which are reprefented in 

 Jig. ig, were thick fet with hairs, but which it was not thought ne- 

 cefiary to exhibit in the drav.ing. 



I at fevcral times inclol'ed two or three large Spiders in the fa)ne 

 glafs, and always found that when they approached each other, they 



* That is in Englifli, thoufand legs, the name vulgarly given to this animal; the Dutch 

 call it Duyfent-been, a word of the- fame import. 



■j- Dr. Mead, in his c^-lebrated Eflay on Poifons, when treating of the Spider, exprefied his 

 doubt of this fAdt, by reafon that he could not himft-If difcovcr the aperture, and Air. Henry 

 B.iker, in his Treatife on the Microfcope, concurred in opinion with the Doflor, that Mr. 

 Leeuwenhoelc mufl- have been miftalcen in this particular. But in another Treatife*, after- 

 wards publifhcd by Mr. Baker, he informs his readers, that he had at length plainly perceived 

 the aperture, and had fiievvn the fame to Dr. Mead, who was much plcafed with the difcovcry. 

 A tcflimony this, greatly to the honour of our Author. 



* Employment for the Microfcope. 



