SPIDERS 105 



chiefly to manipulation of the box and lid. There need be no 

 holes in the pill box for the admission of air for the captive 

 inside. The boxes are by no means air tight. The silken 

 egg-sacs or cocoons of spiders, if you know them, (and some of 

 them are described and figured later in these notes), may also be 

 collected, and the young spiders reared in the schoolroom. The 

 spiderlings will be of special interest to the children, and some 

 thoroly interesting experiments may be made with them. 



For the first lesson of spiders to be given in the schoolroom 

 collect a number of common house spiders and ground spiders. 

 The house spiders may be found especially readily in wood sheds, 

 stables, or other out buildings, and in attics. The ground spiders 

 may be found under stones. Keep some of both kinds of spiders 

 alive in covered glass jars in the schoolroom and kill some by 

 means of chloroform. In the jars with the live ones put a num- 

 ber of small live insects to serve as food for the spiders. 



Observing and Questioning. 



SCHOOLROOM WORK. Have the children watch the live 

 spiders. Notice their behavior with regard to the insects put in 

 for food. Do the spiders catch the insects ? Is there any dif- 

 ference in the behavior of the two kinds of spiders, the smaller 

 house spider and the larger ground spiders ? What do the spiders 

 do with their captured prey ? Do they spin silk about their 

 bodies ? Do both kinds of spiders do this ? How do spiders eat 

 their prey ? Do they eat the whole body of the captured insect ? 

 They simply suck out the body juices, casting aside the flaccid 

 skin. If the spiders spin silk around their prey from what part 

 of the spider's body does the silk come ? The silk issues from 

 small papillae or finger-like processes situated at the posterior tip 

 of the body. Do the spiders spin silk except around the bodies 

 of their prey ? Whenever the house spiders run they leave behind 



