66 THE MICilOSCOPE. May., 



be taken for they are so delicate that their parts are 

 easily displaced. It may be well to look at one while it 

 is still alive. If an adult, it has an oval body. Fig. 1, 

 four pairs of legs and two mandibles, (Fig. 1 n.), but it 

 has no eyes. It is not a true spider, neither a true in- 

 sect, but belongs to the same family as the mites (Acar- 

 ina). Its body and legs are furnished with hairs which 

 are long and very sensitive, those on the feet having a 

 nub at their extremities, making them look like little 

 pins stuck into the feet. Fig. 3. On the under side of 

 the body near the end of the abdomen is the rounded 

 protuberance from which the silk is produced. By the 

 aid of the claws and the hairs on the legs this silk is 

 spun into so minute threads that it takes a high power to 

 distinguish one thread from another. By the united ef- 

 fort of many spiders, tents are formed of this silk and 

 suspended from the hairs on the surface of the leaf. 

 These insects thrive best when it is hot and dry. They 

 use the tents as protection from cold and dampness, and 

 also as a place to deposit their eggs. Although so tiny, 

 they lay a spherical, colorless, transparent egg, which 

 produces larvae like the parent, except that it is smaller 

 and has but six legs. The larvae are usually white, 

 while the color of the adult varies from deep red to yel- 

 low, green or mottled according to the color of its food. 

 They feed on the juices of plants, piercing the leaves 

 with their jaws, (Fig. 2 s) and extracting the juices with 

 their barbed suckers (Fig. 2 t). Fig. 4 is a dorsal view 

 of a red spider found on the cotton plant. It is also 

 found on the Canna. 



To destroy them wash the under side of the leaf with 

 a mixture of 100 parts water, 6 parts soft soap and 6 

 parts quassia, steeped in water, or coal oil may be sub- 

 stituted for the quassia. If the plant be taken into a 

 cool room for a few days the insects will die. 



