16 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



motion resembled that of a cat in the act of cleaning her face and the 

 back part of her head and ears, after having licked her paw. 



Spiders may often be 'seen making their toilets in the early morning. 

 The heavy dews discomfort- them and tliey brush away the drops wdiich 

 cling to them. The same act may be observed after showers of rain, after 

 feeding, and often after making a snare. The viscid beads and bits of 

 flocculent matter from her own web some- 

 times entangle with the hairs and spines of 

 the legs, after a more than usually vigor- 

 ous effort in capturing and swathing a vic- 

 tim. This is so disagreeable that the cap- 

 tive will be trussed up in the open space 

 of the broken orb until the tidy aranead 

 removes the offending matter. Sometimes 

 after a hearty meal Arachne will make her fig. i. ' ' fig. 2. 



toilet, thus reversing the human mode of Fig. 1. The Agricultural ant cleaning the 

 ^ . \ c 1 • ^■^P ^^ ^^^ abdomen. Fig. 2. Domicile spi- 



ClreSSnig DeiOre dinner. der cleansing her leg while suspended on 



One spider (Epeira vertebrata), captured '^ ^^'^• 



in a large glass tube while eating a fly, kept hold of her food, deliberately 



adjusted herself to her new position, spun out a few lines which 



^^^'. were rapidly attached to the sides of the glass, then turned over 



the Feet ^"'^ ^'^*'^^ great sang froid concluded her meal. When she had 



finished she began cleaning her palps and feet, and gave me a 



fine opportunity to see the whole operation. I here observed that the mouth 



secreted freely a liquid whicli appeared to be a little mucilaginous, and that 



the paws were drawn through this. The stiff hairs upon the upper part 



and inner sides of the mandibles must materially aid the process of cleansing. 



The fangs are used as claspers in the process of cleansing. The leg is 



passed underneath one fang which clasps it around in the bent part at the 



articulation, thus holding 



„^® ° it up to and within tlie 



mouth. The tendency of 



the legs to spring back from their 



unnatural position is probably thus 



„ „ „ overcome until they can be cleansed. 



Fig. 3. Fiu. i. •' 



Fig. 3. Combing and washing the head with the palp. The fangS may alsO SSrVC tO mOVC 

 Fig. 4. Combing a fore leg with the fangs. the leg back and forth tlirOUgh 



the jaws. During this process the mandibles work back and forward like 

 the jaws of vertebrate animals, only that they move horizontally instead 

 of vertically. The fangs are used in the same manner to clasp and 

 adjust tlie prey during the act of feeding. They thus sei"ve, together with 

 the palps, the purpose of fingers or hands. 



When a hind leg is cleansed it is bent forward and downward beneath 

 the abdomen and so into the mouth, where it is treated as above described. 



