AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



FIG. i. 



PIG. 2. 



motion resembled that of a cat in the act of cleaning her face and the 

 back part of her head and ears, after having licked her paw. 



Spiders may often be seen making their toilets in the early morning. 

 The heavy dews discomfort them and they brush away the drops which 

 cling to them. The same act may be observed after showers of rain, after 

 feeding, and often after making a snare. The viscid beads and bits of 

 flocculent matter from her own web some- 

 times entangle with the hairs and spines of 

 the legs, after a more than usually vigor- 

 ous effort in capturing and swathing a vic- 

 tim. This is so disagreeable that the cap- 

 tive will be trussed up in the open space 

 of the broken orb until the tidy aranead 

 removes the offending matter. Sometimes 

 after a hearty meal Arachne will make her 

 toilet, thus reversing the human mode of 



dressing before dinner. 



One spider (Epeira vertebrata), captured 

 in a large glass tube while eating a fly, kept hold of her food, deliberately 

 adjusted herself to her new position, spun out a few lines which 

 were rapidly attached to the sides of the glass, then turned over 



and with S reat san S froid concluded her meal - When She had 

 finished she began cleaning her palps and feet, and gave me a 



fine opportunity to see the whole operation. I here observed that the mouth 

 secreted freely a liquid which appeared to be a little mucilaginous, and that 

 the paws were drawn through this. The stiff hairs upon the upper part 

 and inner sides of the mandibles must materially aid the process of cleansing. 

 The fangs are used as* claspers in the process of cleansing. The leg i 

 passed underneath one fang which clasps it around in the bent part at the 



articulation, thus holding 

 it up to and within the 

 mouth. The tendency of 

 the legs to spring back from their 

 unnatural position is probably thus 

 overcome until they can be cleansed. 



der cleansing her leg while suspended on 



a web - 



Hair ' 



m8rs< 



FIG. , coX and washing the he"' with the paip. The fangs may also serve to move 



FIG. 4. Combing a fore leg with the fangs. the leg back ailQ lOrtn tlirOUgn 



the jaws. During this process the mandibles work back and forward like 

 the jaws of vertebrate animals, only that they move horizontally instead 

 of vertically. The fangs are used in the same manner to clasp and 

 adjust the prey during the act of feeding. They thus serve, together with 

 the palps, the purpose of fingers or hands. 



When a hind leg is cleansed it is bent forward and downward beneath 

 the abdomen and so into the mouth, where it is treated as above described. 



