206 OTHER DENIZENS OF THE WOODS 



grasses and bushes, or emit threads in all directions, to form a loose kind of tissue ; 

 some drawing threads after them when they run. These spiders live in gardens 

 and vineyards, where the web is said to protect the grapes from insects. One is 

 the useful weaver-spider (Theridium benignum), distinguished by having on the 

 front part of its reddish yellow and brown abdomen a large brown square spot, and 

 at the end a black line ; the legs being yellow, and the total length one-third of an 

 inch. The crab-spiders (Laterigradce) are so-called on account of being able to 

 run backwards, forwards, or sideways with equal rapidity. They make no webs, 

 and are inveterate thieves. One of these is a well-known forest-species, the emerald- 

 spider (Micrommata smaragdula), which is about f of an inch long, and grass-green 

 in colour. On the upper part of the abdomen it has a triangular green spot ; and 

 the abdomen of the male is generally edged with a reddish line. The running- 

 spiders (Citigradce), another subdivision, likewise weave no web ; the females 

 sitting on their cocoons, or carrying them about attached to their sjiinning 

 mammillae. The well-known hunting-spider (Ocyale mirabilis) is a member of 

 this group ; it is about, half an inch long, and in colour yellowish brown, with a 

 white tip to the cephalothorax, and a white festoon with black edges round the 

 abdomen. The male has four white lines running along the cephalothorax and 

 abdomen, and two waved lines which are not so long. The false scorpions, which 

 may be distinguished from spiders by the absence of a distinct constriction between 

 the thorax and the abdomen, differ from the true scorpions in lacking a tailed 

 abdomen, although resembling them in the presence of similar pincer-like appendages. 

 The moss-scorpion (Obisiwm muscorum), often found under moss and bushes, is of 

 a glistening blackish brown, with the legs whitish, the pincers reddish brown, and 

 the total length about an eighth of an inch. 



The mites and ticks constitute another order of the arachnid 



Mites. 



class, characterised by the head, thorax, and abdomen being blended 

 together. Some dwell in the water, where they feed on small water-animals, others 

 weave tiny tissues on the ground, while others again live by feeding upon the food 

 in our houses. Some are permanent parasites, while others, as for instance the 

 ticks, are parasitic only for a portion of their existence. These live on bushes ; the 

 body being covered with a leathery, elastic skin, and the beak with a horny shield. 

 They are sluggish animals, boring their proboscis deep into the skin of their hosts 

 to suck their blood, increasing a hundredfold in size on such nutritious diet, and 

 looking not unlike beans. Only the females, however, are blood-suckers, the males 

 being much smaller than their partners, to whose bodies they cling. A familiar 

 representative of the group is the dog or sheep tick (Ixodes ricinus), which is oval 

 in shape, and yellowish red in colour. The shield on the back is a little darker 

 than the rest of the body, and the abdomen has an elevated edge, and is clothed 

 with fine hair. When empty, this tick is only an eighth of an inch long, but 

 when full of blood it swells to the size of a hazel-nut. 



The velvet-mites (Trombidiidce), which are mostly of a brilliant red or yellow 

 ■colour, take their name from their velvet-like skin. They creep about under earth 

 and moss, and their six-legged larvae are generally parasitic on insects. The 

 spinning-mites (Tetranychidce) spin a silky tissue underneath the leaves of limes, 

 oaks, roses, beans, and other plants, from which they suck the juices. The common 



