CHAPTER III. 



SPIXXIXG HABITS. 



That which, more than any thing else, distin- 

 guishes spiders from other animals is the habit 

 of spinning webs. Some of the mites spin ir- 

 regular threads on plants, or cocoons for their 

 eggs ; and many insects spin cocoons in which 

 to pass through the change from larva to adult. 

 In the spiders the spinning-organs are much 

 more complicated, and used for a greater variety 

 of purposes, — for making egg-cocoons, silk 

 linings to their nests, and nets for catching 

 insects. The spider's thread differs from that 

 of insects, in being made up of a great number 

 of finer threads laid together while soft enough 

 to unite into one. 



38 



