XVlll INTRODUCTION. 



is continued to the abdomen, where it is subdivided, and branches 

 out to all the different abdominal organs. 



Organs of Reproduction. 



The situation of these, with their external form, has already 

 been noticed. The internal parts of both male and female are 

 very simple ; in the former they consist of two long, narrow, 

 convoluted tubes, and in the latter, of two elongated Ovaria, 

 placed lengthwise within the ventral surface of the abdomen. 



Near the external opening of the Ovaria, in the female, there 

 are generally some (fewer or more) contortions corresponding to 

 the more or less contorted, or complex, structure of the palpal 

 organs of the male. It is through those contorted tubes that the 

 fecundating fluid is passed, by means of the palpal organs of 

 the male into the bulbiform reservoirs, or Spermatheca, of the 

 female.* 



Habita and Economy of Spiders. Their snares and mode 

 of entrapping their prey. 



Porhaps to most lovers of Natural History greater detail on 

 this part of tho subjoct would bo acceptable ; but even these 

 interesting points can only bo touched upon comparatively briofly 

 here, especially as in the following descriptions the habits and 

 economy of the different species (so far as known) are frequently 

 referred to. 



Evidently formed to prey upon other creatures (for, as yet, no 

 instance is known of a spider feeding upon vegetable substances) 

 and the majority of their prey being able to seek safety in flight 

 or swiftness of foot, we find, as we should expect, spiders 

 endowed with skill and craft rather than with great comparative 

 strength. 



There are several ways in which the rapacious portion of 

 creation obtain their prey : Firstly, by running it down in fair 



* Those who desire to enter more minutely into the subject of the internal 

 structure and anatomy of spiders may bo referred to the works of 

 Treviranus, Emile Blanchard, Philip Bertkau, and others. In regard to 

 the mode of reproduction, the main facts at present known are very dearly 

 stated and illustrated in a little work (vol. 2 of the "American Natural 

 History series) lately published at Salem, Mass., U.S.A., " On the 

 Habits and Structure of Spiders," by Mr. J. H. Emerton. 



