U. INTRODUCTION. 



ought to banish, at once from every mind any sinister idea. "We 

 may, I think, dismiss altogether the fanciful interpretation by 

 which the name spider was once derived from " spy-door " 

 (spydor), in allusion to a, supposed general, habit of spiders lying 

 on the look-out in their webs spun in the angles of a doorway. 

 Its real derivation is, without a doubt, obtained from the habit 

 of spinning silken linos ; an unvarying character of the whole 

 Order to which spiders bolong. Hence the Swedish name 

 Spindlar or " the Spinner." The name is also essentially the 

 same in Gorman, and other Teutonic languages. From spindlar 

 wo got spider at once, by the simple and natural elision of the n 

 and I. 



With regard to the sinister look of a spider, it is, I think, only 

 through ignorance and prejudice that spiders could bo viewed in 

 that light. Where is the object which does not bocomo 

 beautiful when seen through the medium of intelligent 

 enquiry ? Is this too philosophic an idea for our every-day 

 world? If so then, at least, let me say that among spiders 

 we find not only elegance of form, and many curious 

 and complex structures (some wonderfully adapted to their 

 mode of life, others still unexplained), but great beauty, both 

 of actual colouring and its distribution ; forming patterns of 

 groat variety, and striking contrasts of colour. Tho descriptions 

 of many oven of our British spiders will exemplify this ; while amon g 

 exotic specios there are numerous examples of richness and 

 brilliancy of colouring, equal to almost anything found in tho 

 insect world. 



The carnivorous habits of spiders are repulsive to some minds ; 

 and hence comes another source of dislike ; but with what 

 amount of sense or reason ? A correspondent in the Dorset 

 Count!/ Chronicle, some little time since, included spiders in a 

 sweeping clause as, by common consent, disgusting creatures, 

 chiefly owing to their habit of preying upon others ; and spoke 

 of the study of spiders as though it were unworthy the time or 

 attention of a rational being. I know not how wide-spread these 

 opinions may be ; but, at any rate, it is scarcely consistent in, 



