SPIDERS OF GUIilKXSKY. 369 



are either six or eight in number. The Mites have the entire 

 body composed of one undivided piece. The Harvestmen 

 have enormously long slender legs, and only two eyes ; and the 

 False-scorpions are distinguished by the possession of a pair 

 of large claws resembling in miniature those of a lobster. As 

 far as British species are concerned these four orders are very 

 clearlv marked off and separated by the above characters. 



In the remarkable spinning apparatus of spiders we have 

 the distinctive feature which pre-eminently characterises the 

 class, and gives it its name in most languages. All kinds 

 of spiders spin threads of silk at some period or other of their 

 lives, even if it be only to form a protective covering for 

 their eggs, or a cosy dwelling-place in a crevice, or a dead 

 leaf; but all species do not construct snares for the capture of 

 their prey, like the beautiful geometrical webs of the Epeirids 

 which are so common in gardens and hedges. There are many 

 kinds of spiders, like the Salticids and Lycosids, which 

 procure their food by regularly hunting it on foot, or lying in 

 wait on the Avatch, and pouncing upon their victims precisely 

 in the same manner as the large carnivorous animals. Others 

 again, being aided by protective resemblance, lurk within the 

 expanded corolla of floAvers, lying motionless vmtil some unsus- 

 pecting insect arrives in search of honey, when it is seized and 

 devoured ; even small butterflies being occasionally captured 

 in this way. 



One of the most interesting of British species is the 

 Water Spider { Argyroneta CKftiatka) which is about half 

 an inch long, of an olive-brown colour, and lives almost 

 entirely under water. Tlie body is densely clothed with 

 pubescence which, by entangling a quantity of air, gives 

 the spider when in the water the appearance of a globule 

 of quicksilver. The air thus taken down supplies the 

 respiratory organs, and the little creature lives in a sort 

 of diving-bell. A few of these spiders (which occur in 

 abundance in some of the pools on Lancresse Common) form 

 interesting objects for study, if kept in a glass jar of water 

 containing a few water plants, the tops of which should rise 

 out of the water, or float on its surface, so as to afford a 

 foothold for the spiders when they come np to ])reathe. It is 

 Avell to keep the jar covered with gauze or netting, as 

 they occasionally roam about at night. 



The Water Spider is the only Bi-itish species in which 

 the male exceeds the female in size. As a rule the males are 

 considerably smaller than the opposite sex ; sometimes only 

 one-half as large ; and besides that, there is very often 



