CHAPTER VIII 



ANIMAL LIFE AND THE MICROSCOPE 



THERE are few more interesting animals than 

 spiders and we may spend many an hour 

 learning details of their structure, which 

 only the microscope can show, and studying their 

 habits, for only by doing so is it brought home to 

 us how astonishingly clever they are. The spider, 

 of course, is not an insect ; it has eight legs, whereas 

 the insect has only six, its head and thorax are 

 fused, but in the case of insects head and thorax 

 are separate. There are many other, less evident, 

 points of difference as we shall see. 



For the microscope, there are few better objects 

 in animal land than the feet of spiders. Their study 

 will give us plenty of occupation for they are model- 

 led on various plans, according to the different kinds 

 of spider. Taking the common garden spider as our 

 first example we shall find that its foot is a most 

 ingenious contrivance. Our microscope will show 

 us that the foot is armed with a pair of comb-like 

 claws. A little study of the habits of the spider will 



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