20 



SPIDER GOSSIP. 



in section in Fig. i. These jaws cannot bite, but they are furnished 

 with a pair of feelers, with which a spider may be observed to 

 touch over its prey to see if it be good to eat. With the Hps, 

 they form a tube, down which the juices of the fly are drawn. 

 The under hp is stiff, and has a hard, horny skin, but, as it has 

 muscles, it is evident that it can be moved a little. The upper 

 lip, on the contrary, is extremely mobile. Its skin is soft ; 

 externally it is furnished with a fierce moustache, and internally 

 muscles traverse it in two directions. These can be seen in the 

 illustration, one set as a co?igeries of little ovals, this being the 



Fijr. 2. 



-Lengthwise section of Gill or breathing organ of 

 Garden Spider. The little black dots in the " leaf- 

 lets " are blood cells. Magnified forty diameters. 



form of the fibres when cut at right angles to their length. It is 

 moved by strong muscles (also figured) arising from the top of the 

 head and going right across it. Its most curious feature is the 

 palate, or roof of the mouth. This is nothing more or less than 

 a small and very finely grooved file. The roughness of its sur- 

 face is indicated (in section) in the figure, but the individual 

 ridges, small as they are drawn, are about six times too coarse. I 

 imagine its use to be to grind down such parts of the fly as are 

 too solid to be otherwise sucked in. When the spider sheds its 



