( 38 ) 



"would figlit to that degree, as to be covered with the effiifion of 

 blood froin their bodies*, which was foon followed by the death of 

 the wounded Spider. I alfo obferved, that the fmaller Spiders al- 

 ways avoided the larger, but when two of nearly equal fize ap- 

 proached each other, neither would give Avay, but both of them 

 grappled together furioufl}' with their fangs, till one of them lay 

 dead upon the fpot, its body being as wet with the blood flowing from 

 the wounds received, as if v.'ater had been poured upon it. 



I at one time had a Spider which Mas wounded by the bite of 

 another in the thickeft part of its leg, and from the ^^•ound there 

 iffued fome blood, in quantity, about the fize of a large grain of 

 fand ; this wounded leg, the Spider held up, as unable to ufe it, and 

 foon afterwards the whole leg dropped from its body : whenever i.he 

 breaft or fore part of the Spider was wounded, I always obl'ei ved the 

 wound to be mortal. 



I had imagined, that when a Spider applied its thread either to fome 

 foreign fubftance or to another thread, that the thread newly fpun 

 mull: be covered with fome vifcous or glulinous m.atter by w hich it 

 became faftened, in like manner as we obferve in Silk-worms 

 threads. But I now found that the Spider cannot fix its tliread to any 

 thing, without imprinting the hind part of its body on the place, by 

 which preflure, it emits an incredible number of exceflively fmall 

 threads, diverging in every direction, from wlience we may conclude, 

 that as foon as the threads are expofed to the air, they lofe their \ il- 

 cofity or glewy quality. 



When I at finl: began the difie6lion of the Spider, and endea- 

 voured to difcover the vifcous or gummy fubfiance from v:hence 

 thel'e threads proceed, and could not fatisfy myfelf in that particular, 

 1 was alloniflied, not being able to conceive how, from fo moid a 



* If any reader fliould be difpored to try this experiment hp miift not cxpcil to fee a red 

 liquor iiTuc frc.m the wounded Sjiidcr. For the circulating fluid in many infects is clear or 

 •caiourlwfs, though as flay to be dcnumir.ated bloi-J, uS th.-.c wiilcii flows in the veins of an;- 

 m:ils. 



