
THE HABITS OF SPIDERS. 477 
color, the back is ornamented with various whitish mark- 
ings, and the legs with rings of black and yellow. The 
under side of the body is black, with yellow markings. In 
sheltered places they spend most of the time in their webs 
waiting for prey, while in situations exposed to the sun and 
wind they watch only in the night. During the day, and in 
stormy weather, they remain concealed in some crack or 
corner, near which, for convenience, the web is always 
placed. In such retreats they also pass the winter without 
food, and only covered by a thin web of their own spinning. 
Like other spiders they are furnished with poisonous jaws, 
which they attempt to use when disturbed, but as they can 
only bite what comes directly between their jaws, they may 
be handled without fear. There are but few cases on record 
of a spider biting the human skin. Their timid nature leads 
them to avoid danger rather than resist it, and the common 
Suspicion with which they are regarded has no foundation, 
except a want of acquaintance with their habits. 
If we take a spider of the kind just described and turn it 
under side up, as in Pl. 11, fig. 2, we shall at once notice 
that the body consists of two nearly equal parts, connected 
bya slender waist. The front part gives origin to the organs 
of sense and motion, while the hinder part contains the prin- 
cipal internal organs. The most conspicuous appendages of 
the body are the four pairs of legs (Fig. 2, 4, 4, 4; a). Im- 
mediately in front of these is another smaller pair (Fig. 2, b, 
and fig, 7), the first joints of which are flattened, so that 
they may be used as jaws, or lips (Fig. 2, ¢), for squeezing 
the food. The ends of these last limbs are supposed to be 
organs of touch, and are called palpi. Next in front is a 
oad of stout jaws (Fig. 3, c, c), each of which is furnished 
with a sharp claw at the end (Fig. 3,@)- This claw is hollow, 
and is pierced with a minute hole near the point (Fig. 3, b). 
When the spider bites, a drop of poison is discharged through 
this orifice from a gland in the head. This quickly kills 
sects, and causes inflammation of the bitten part in larger 
