i 4 S ARACHNIDANS. 



Laterigrades. These spiders are generally found quite 

 motionless upon vegetables, where they remain with their legs 

 stretched out ready for action. They construct no web, but 

 simply scatter about a few solitary threads to arrest their prey. 

 Their cocoon is round and flat ; they conceal it between leaves, 

 the edges off which they fasten together, and carefully watch it 

 until the eggs are hatched. 



The second division of the race of spiders comprehends 



The Vagabond Arachnidans, as they are called, in contradis- 

 tinction to the preceding, which are all sedentary. These spiders 

 make no web, but lie in wait for their prey, which they overtake 

 by running, or by leaping upon it suddenly. They are divided 

 into two sections 



The Citigrades, or Runners, and the Saltigrades, or Lcapers. 



The Citigrades,t called also Wolf Spiders, are to be found on the tops 

 of trees or bushes, where they build a bell-shaped nest, in which the females 

 lay their eggs: this nest, or cocoon, they always carry with them when they 

 go to hunt, generally attaching it to their breast. Some of them are frequently 

 seen by the margins of ponds ; sometimes, indeed, they run upon the surface 

 of the water with surprising swiftness, and they may be often seen to leap upon 

 flies and other insects that approach them too closely. One species 



The Tarantula (Lycosa Tarentitla], so called from the city of Tarentum, in Italy, 

 where it is common, has obtained great celebrity. It is there commonly believed that 

 its bite is very serious, being sometimes fatal, or if not, that it occasions a peculiar 

 malady called "Tarentism," only to be cured by music and dancing. Enlightened 

 and judicious persons are of opinion, however, that it is the effect of imagination that 

 requires thus to be combated, rather than the venom of the Tarentula. 



The Saltigrade, % or Leaping Spiders, may frequently be seen upon 

 walls, or in other situations exposed to the sun. They walk, as it were, by 

 fits and starts, and after taking a few steps, stop suddenly, and rear themselves 

 on their fore-legs. Should they see a fly or gnat, they approach it cautiously, 

 until they get so near that they can clear the distance at a single leap, and then 

 spring like tigers on their prey. They will occasionally make these leaps even 

 from the side of a perpendicular wall, for being always attached by a silken 

 thread, they easily scramble up again. Many of them build their nests under 

 stones or between the leaves of trees. Their nests are of an oval form, and 

 open at both ends : in these they repose, change their skin, or take shelter 

 from the weather ; but if alarmed, they immediately rush out, and scamper 

 off with precipitation. 9 



Some spiders possess the remarkable faculty of shooting out threads in 

 diverging lines into the air, which, being lighter than the atmosphere, form a 

 sort of balloon, on which the little aeronaut mounts above this lower world, 

 and rides at will among the clouds. 



Mr. Blackwall supposes that the spider is enabled to do this by the action 

 of the wind, which carries the thread out as it is spun, and that many being 



* Latus, lateris, the side ; gradior, I walk. f Cito, quickly ; gradior, I walk. 



J Saltus, a leap; gradior, I walk. 



