INVERTEBRATA, 411 



Family I. ARANEIDES. 

 ORDER Y. DIMEROSOMATA. (Heck.) 



This is the family of spiders, or the genus Aranea of 

 Linnaeus. In their anatomy, their natural association with 

 other animals, their physiological peculiarities, and special 

 characteristics, no division of zoology is more attractive, 

 scientifically. Devilish, for they possess venom ; ugly, for 

 who does not hate a spider, (except the true naturalist or lover 

 of God ?) and repulsive from their habits, for who does not 

 abhor the idea of a trap, and of the keeper of a trap, whe- 

 ther baited with jewelry or rags, brandy or green turtle, 

 corsets or crinoline, satin or the slimy silk of the spider's 

 web ? still, as filling " a yawning need of nature," to the eye 

 of science, the Araneides are as wonderful and attractive as 

 the animals over whose structure taste and beauty preside. 



They have "two cords of a nervous system, and ganglions 

 which distribute nerves to the various organs." Their eyes, 

 simple ocelli, according to Dufour, "shine in darkness like 

 those of the cat, and most probably enjoy the faculty of both 

 nocturnal and diurnal vision." There maybe some large 

 economy in giving to spiders the control of both worlds, 

 " night and morning," but to possess them also of the fiend- 

 ish and cowardly element of venom, in poisoned swords and 

 spears, and supply them with argus eyes having nocturnal 

 and diurnal vision, together with the power of weaving 

 invisible snares for capturing the innocent, unsuspecting 

 inhabitants of the air, must trouble much the dreams of the 

 optimist, whose solution of obscure points comes from the 

 plane of the natural alone. Cuvier remarks: "I have as- 

 certained that a single wound from a moderate-sized spider 

 will kill the common fly in a few minutes. It is also certain 

 that the bite of those large ones of South America, which 

 are there called crab-spiders, and are placed by us in the 

 genus Mygale, kills the smaller vertebrated animals, such as 

 humming-birds, pigeons, etc., and produce a violent fever in 

 man ; the sting of some species in the south of France has 



