ORDER PULMONARIiE. 387 



class, and then our family of pedipalpi, to which it belongs, 

 should precede that of araneides. But these last arachnides 

 are in some sort isolated, by reason of the male sexual organs, 

 of the hook of their frontal forceps, of their pedicled abdomen, 

 and its spinnents, and of their habits. The scorpions, more- 

 over, seem to form a natural transition from the pulmonary 

 arachnides to the family of the Pseudo-scorpiones, the first of 

 the following order. We shall commence, therefore, as we 

 have done, with the araneides, or spinning arachnides. 



The first family of the PULMONARY ARACHNIDES, that of 



Araneides, 



Is composed of the Spiders {Aranea, Linn.) They have 

 palpi in the form of little feet, without pincers at the end, ter- 

 minated, for the most part, in the females, by a small hook, 

 while the last articulation encloses, or carries, in the males, 

 divers appendages, more or less complicated, serving for the 

 purposes of generation. Their frontal forceps (mandibles of 

 some writers), are terminated by a mobile hook, folded back 

 inferiorly, having underneath, near its extremity, always 

 pointed, a little cleft, for the issue of a poison, enclosed in a 

 gland of the preceding articulation. The jaws are never above 

 two in number. The tongue is of a single piece, always ex- 

 ternal, and situated between the jaws, either more or less 

 square, or triangular, or semi-circular. The thorax, having 

 usually an impression in the form of a V, indicating the space 

 occupied by the head, is of a single articulation, to which is 

 suspended behind, by means of a short pedicle, a mobile 

 abdomen, usually soft. In all, it is furnished below the 

 anus with four or six nipples, fleshy at the end, cylin- 

 drical or conical, articulated, very much approximated one 

 to another, and pierced at their extremity with an infinity 

 of small holes, for the passage of silken threads of an 

 extreme tenacity, issuing from internal reservoirs. The feet, 



c c 2 



