OBSERVATIONS ON HEARING AND SMELL IN 

 SPIDERS.i 



ANNIE H. PRITCHETT. 



Only a small amount of previous work has been done upon 

 the senses of hearing and smell in spiders. 



According to Campbell ('80) spiders are well provided with 

 the means of feeling the slightest movements of their webs or 

 other near objects. On their legs are long, slender, silken hairs 

 which differ from other hairs in that they are attached to a disc 



Dahl ('83) found these hairs to vibrate to the tones of a violin 

 and designated them as auditory hairs. Later ('84) he distm- 

 guished certain of these as organs of smell and attempted a 

 classification of spiders according to the distribution of the 



Bertkau ('85) compared the so-called taste organs on the ends 

 of the palps with the flask-shaped bodies on the antennae of ants 

 and spoke of them as organs of smell. 



J. W. and E. S. Peckham ('87) found that with three excc])- 

 tions all the spiders expenmented upon b> tlum gaM ic^^ponscs 

 to strong smelHng substances, but the LpeiiHl.i aloiK hnjun 

 capable of hearmg the vibrations ot a tuiung l(»ik. (. )i b^inakm^ 



that make no web gave not the shghtest heed D the >-.un(l.s. 

 and in the former the sense seemed to be chstnl)Litc(l gene. all) 

 over the whole ejMdermis. 



Wagner ('88) insisted that the .so-called auditory hairs aie 

 only capable of perceiving tactile .sensations. 



daubert ('90) considered the Ivntoim ol,^ans a> oi.^ans o 

 hearing. 



