SPIDER. 



fpots. It inhabits China, and is the fize of the taran- 

 tula. 



Alba. White ; abdomen with five imprefled dots ; two- 

 horned and deprefled at the bafe, and globular at the tip. 

 It inhabits Siberia, under the bark of trees. 



The eggs of fome fpiders are a very pleafing microfcopic 

 objeft ; they are round at one end, and flattilh at the other, 

 with a depreffion in the centre of the flattift end, and a yel- 

 lowifh circle round it. The colour of thefe eggs is a pearly 

 or blueifh-white, and when the young fpiders hatch, they 

 come out in their perfecft form, and run about very nimbly. 



The female fpider depofits her eggs, to the number of live 

 or fix hundred, in a bag compofed of her own web, which 

 (he either carries under her belly, or hides in fome very fafe 

 recefs. Philof. Tranf. N° 272. 



The young fpiders are always very beautiful objefis for 

 the microfcope. The current of the bloed may be eafily 

 difcovered in their legs, and part of their bodies ; and many 

 other curious particulars occur in their dili'eftion. There 

 are two or three fpecies of this animal particularly worthy 

 the attention of the curious in microfcopic difcoverics. I. A 

 little white field fpider with ihort legs. This is found plen- 

 tifully among new hay, and its body appears hke white am- 

 ber with black knobs, out of which grow Ihort but (harp 

 prickles. The eyes of thefe may be very dillinftly feen, 

 being very briflc and lively, and fome have fix, fome eight of 

 them ; each eye has a pupil of a violet blue, which is beau- 

 tifully clear and tranfparent, and is furrounded by a circle 

 of pale yellow. 2. The wandering, or hunting fpider, that 

 fpins no webs, but runs and leaps by fits. This has two 

 tufts of feathers fixed to its fore-paws, which make a very 

 beautiful appearance before the microfcope. The variety 

 and beauty of colouring alfo, all over this Lttle creature, 

 afford a very pleafing fight. 3. The long-legs, or (hepherd 

 fpider. This is a moil wonderful creature : it has two fore- 

 claws at a great dillance from the head, tipped with black, 

 like thofe of a crab, and opening and ftiutting hke the 

 fcoi-pions ; tliefe are ferrated or indented on their infide. 

 When all the legs are cut from this fpider, and it is exa- 

 mined by the microfcope, it will be feen that the pro- 

 tuberance on the top of its back is furniihed with two fine 

 black eyes. Power's MicroC Cfbf. p. 13. Hook's Mi- 

 crogr. p. 200. 



The venom of many kinds of fpiders is greater than ufually 

 fuppofed : we have, in the Philofophical Tranfaftions, an 

 account of a perfon in New England who was bitten by a 

 fmall fpider a little above his ankle ; he perceived the crea- 

 ture biting, aad crulhed it to death upon the wound, be- 

 tween his Hocking and his leg ; in half an hour he felt a 

 pain in that leg, which in another half hour extended itfelf 

 to the groin, and at the fame time he had a creeping pain in 

 the calf of his other leg ; and in a quarter of an hour after 

 this it affefted his ftomach, his back, and his head. The 

 pains were not conftant and fixed, but erratic, and very 

 acute, and his pulfe was extremely low and heavy. He was 

 relieved, by taking internally fpirit and fait of hartftiorn in 

 viper-wine, and applying a cataplafm of garlic to the part, 

 and in three or four days wholly recovered. 



Boccone mentions a fpecies of large fpider, common in 

 the ifland of Saidinia, whofe bite proves mortal within the 

 fpace of a few hours ; the whole body ufually fwells almoft 

 immediately, in confequence of this bice. The cure is per- 

 formed by oil of olives, in which the creature is infufed over 

 the heat of a ftove. This is a medicine they always keep 

 ready in the houfe, and while they ufe this externally, they 

 give large dofes of Venice treacle inwardly, diflblved in 

 Itrong wine : but many die of this bite, either from the 



II 



want of power in the remedies, or from their being ufed 

 too late. 



There is hardly any fubjeft on which there has been a 

 greater difference of opinion than the fuppofed poifon of 

 fpiders. To the obfervations that occur in this article and 

 alfo under Akanea, we fliallhcre add fome further remarks, 

 with which we are furuiflied by Dr. Amoureux, jun. a late 

 French writer. Our fpiders in France, fays this author, (in 

 his " Notice des Infeftes de la France reputfes venimeux,") 

 are in general rather ugly than formidable. If any are 

 fufpeAed of being poifonous, it ought not to be the domeilic 

 fpider with long claws, aranea phalangiodes, Linn., nor the 

 m.ower of the fields, phalangium opilio, Linn., the only kinds 

 of the phalangia mentioned by Geoffroy ; nor the mafon 

 fpider, nor the orange-coloured fpider, and that entirely 

 white aranea viatica, and the aranea citrina, Linn., found 

 commonly among vegetables or fruit, and chiefly grapes, 

 nor many others, which we fee daily, and of which we 

 have no caufe to complain. Swammerdam did not believe 

 that the fpider emitted through the ftings or darts with which 

 it pierces the animals whofe blood it fucks, a venomou.. 

 liquor. Liller, on the other hand, who fays that he had 

 certain proofs of fpiders being venomous, exprefied the poi- 

 fon from thefe inftruraents. Leuwenhoeck alfo advances, 

 that the venom of the fpiders is contained in the cavity of 

 the (harp pincers which proceed from the mouth of the in- 

 feft. Others have faid tliat thefe forceps are not hollow, 

 but that the venom proceeds from a fmall trunk which ill'ues 

 from the mouth at tht- moment when the infecl feizes its 

 prey. (See Aranea.) Although it be a certain fatt, that 

 many fpiders, and perhaps all of them, throw out from their 

 mouth a certain liquor, with which they moiiten their prey, 

 we may reft'aflured, fays Amoureux, that our fpiders have 

 nothing in them of a venomous nature ; and this is proved 

 by their being often touched without danger, and by their 

 being eaten without injury. Redi faw people who ate fpi- 

 ders, and from the experiments which he made, he does not 

 believe them to be poifonous. Clark and Roefel maintain, 

 that fpiders are not fo venomous as is fuppofed, fince many 

 perfons fwallowed them. A perfon is mentioned, who ate 

 all he could find, and who found them to be purgative. He 

 fpread them on a flice of bread, as if they had been excel- 

 lent marmalade. Moreover, it is maintained, in oppofition 

 to the popular error, that the fpider is not able, by its 

 pricking, to kill the toad. It is alfo well known, that 

 chickens, nightingales, and other birds, eat fpiders without 

 injury ; and they have been prefcribed as a remedy chiefly 

 in the tympanis. Liller, whofe obfervations on thefe infefts 

 have been numerous, (ays pofitively, that feveral fpiders 

 have a venomous liquor : but the honorable Mr. R. Boyle af- 

 fures us, that he never faw any venomous fpiders in Ireland. 

 Upon the whole, it is obferved, the different effefts of 

 fpiders are owing partly to a difference in the fpiders on 

 which experiments have been made, and the different con- 

 (litution of the fubjedls. In ordinary cafes of being bitten 

 or punctured by fpiders, it will be fufiicient to wa(h the 

 wounded part with brine, to apply theriaca, and to pre- 

 fcribe one or two dofes internally. The frelh leaves of fage, 

 or thofe of plantain, have been recommended as topics, and 

 wafhing with vinegar. Recourfe may alfo be had to volatile 

 alkali. 



Some think the white matter we often find floating in the 

 air towards the end of fummer, is produced by fpiders. See 

 y//r-TnREADs. 



Spider, Red. See Acarus. 



The red fpider is very injurious and deflruftive to dif- 

 ferent forts of plants and fruit-trees, efpecially in forcing- 



houfee 



