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or not. It would lie of no advantage at all for the spider to inject poison into a 

 creature he was going to feed upon, except for the quick despatch of his prey. 

 Probably, however, even if he did, the poison taken internally by the spider 

 would do him no harm, although injected into the blood and system it would be 

 fatal. This we glean from poison generally when taken by ourselves. Poison 

 causing death when taken inside us, may most safely be applied externally, and be 

 of benefit. 



A word or two as to the position of the fangs of the spider, in respect to the 

 mandibles. To a casual observer they would appear all to be of one uniform 

 flatness, but such is not really the case. The level of the fangs is very nearly the 

 same as the level of the lower part of the mandibles, but the mandibles in their 

 centre are considerably elevated above the lower part, by which means 

 they get much extra strength in the way of muscle, flesh, fibre, &c. Hence 

 a great addition of power in using the fangs is gained, and a most useful 

 help it must be to the spider in holding his prey. They remind one very much of 

 garden shears, flat towards the grass when being used, but not flat above. The 

 poison glands are contained some distance below the fangs. I have not tried to 

 extract them, but imagine they would be easily drawn out if you took the 

 mandible after steeping some time in caustic soda or potash, and then, after 

 breaking it below the joint, drew it from the animal. My reason for this is that 

 near the end of the fang an opening exists through which the poison passes, 

 which poison moreover runs also along a channel in the fang itself, thus becoming 

 scattered. The glands are beautifully striated in many instances, whilst in other 

 cases these markings are with difficulty detected. These markings are fibres, and 

 there is much muscular power close to them, so as to draw out the poison when 

 needed. 



The legs and claws of spiders are admirably adapted for their purpose. 

 They vary considerably in length, the amount of hair upon them, their slenderness, 

 and other particulars. Perhaps the most beautiful part of them is in the termina- 

 tion of the legs ; we may call them claws. There may be two or more of these 

 claws, toothed more or less. Often, these claws are two of the same length 

 parallel to each other, and then below them you have a smaller one, with few 

 teeth compared with the upper ones. They are beautiful microscopical speci- 

 mens, and certain to attract the attention of embryo microscopists. I find 

 that by far the best way to obtain perfect specimens is to go in search of dead 

 spiders, which, in the months of December and January, are sure to be found in 

 the old webs. Manipulate them very carefully in detaching them from the old 

 web, drop them into spirit of wine, let them saturate for days, if need be, in the 

 spirit until all the air is gone between the joints of the leg, then mount in the 

 usual way. I have several thus prepared, and always enjoy an examination of 

 them. That the toothed claws are splendidly made and adapted to their end there 

 can be no doubt. We might imagine they would do nicely for climbing up a wall ; 

 nothing of the kind ; they do it most bunglingly, and are about as awkward as a 

 novice beginning to learn to skate. I do not say this is the case with all the 

 spiders. The travellers, for instance, journey well uj) rough places, standing 



