THE SPINNING ORGANS. 45 
The immediate purpose of these anatomical studies was to throw light upon 
the question, then much discussed, whether spiders actually possess the power 
of shooting out threads to a greater or less distance into the air. 
Can the he question is considered elsewhere, although it is now hardly 
ee worthy of a very serious discussion. As is often the case, both 
Threads? Parties were right though they appeared to be at oppo- 
site poles of the subject. In other words, spiders do not 
possess the power of darting threads into the air to any consid- — 
erable distance, and are dependent upon the atmosphere to elevate 
those lines upon which they ascend, and those which they ex- 
trude for web foundations. But in the act of swathing insects, 
and on other occasions also, it is possible for the aranead to 
expel liquid silk with great rapidity and violence, 
and at least for a short distance. This I have 
often observed. Mr. Meade abundantly demon- 
strated that the muscular apparatus furnished to 
the internal spinning organs was sufficiently for- 
midable to produce such a result. Independent 
of this question, Mr. Meade’s somewhat extended 
studies, during which he compared the external 
spinning organs of Orbweavers with those of other 
tribes, have a real histological value, and I have 
made use of some of his results, particularly for 
comparison with the more perfect work of others. 
According to Mr. Meade, the nature and con- 
struction of the silk glands are essentially the same 
Sree in all species of British and foreign spiders dis- 
g, and the long tri. Sected by him, though they differ greatly in form 
articulate spinner and number. As might be expected, they are 
, sp, of Agalena : 
labyrinthea. (After most highly developed in the web spinning species, 
agents while in those that hunt for their prey, as the 
Lycosids, they are few and small in comparison, with the excep- Sas a 
tion of those species which are aeronautic in their young state.1 g; duct, 4; 
They appear to be similar in the males and females. In Agalena ¢f'pepenarig 
labyrinthica the silk glands are of a large tubular or clavate domestica. 
. : : . (AfterUnder- 
shape (see Fig. 37), as is also the case in Tegenaria domestica. nin.) x 125. 
(See Fig. 38.) 
III. 
This detailed description of the spinning glands may be appropriately 
followed by a somewhat more detailed description of the organs through 
which they discharge for the purpose of forming the silken lines of 
1 T have supposed that all Lycosids practice ballooning; but the subject is open for inquiry, 
and it would be interesting if histology should point the way to a wider knowledge of natural 
habit. 
