THE BOOK OF NATURE STUDY 



vegetation. The outer end of the tube often hangs loosely for 

 some two or three inches upon the surface, but is sometimes 

 upright among the herbage, and appears slightly inflated if the 

 spider be within. The tube has no aperture, but the prey is 

 seized by thrusting the powerful mandibles through the silken 



walls of the tube itself. The food 

 of this remarkable and powerful 

 spider consists chiefly of earth- 

 worms, but the nests also contain 

 at times shells of small snails and 

 remains of beetles, earwigs and 

 other insects. 



The body of a spider is divis- 

 ible into two parts only, there 

 being no neck to separate head 

 from thorax. Hence the anterior 

 region is termed the cephalo- 

 thorax, and behind it, and separ- 

 ated by a well-marked "waist," 

 lies the soft and unsegmented 

 abdomen. It is important to note 

 that the abdomen of true spiders 

 exhibits no traces of segmentation ; for there are certain animals, 

 e.g. the long-legged " harvestmen " (Phalangida) , which might be 

 mistaken for spiders, but are readily distinguishable by the seg- 

 mented character of their abdomen, and by 

 absence of a definite " waist." The limbs are 

 six pairs in number, and are all attached to the 

 cephalo-thorax. The first pair is the falces 

 (chelicerse) ; in the garden-spider, whose habits 

 are presently to be described, these are two- 

 jointed, the second joint being bent down on 

 to the first except when in use ; the tip is 

 sharply pointed, and pierced by a hole through 

 which poison flows into the wound inflicted 

 on victims. The second pair of limbs is known as the " pedi- 

 palpi " ; these are leg-like, but have only six joints, and are 

 either destitute of claws or provided with one only. In 



\ 



FIG. 21. The garden spider, Epeira 

 diademata. 



FIG. 22. Falces of 

 spider. 



