52 



Fig. 16. 



sidles along quietly in the direction of its intended victim, keeping a most careful 

 watch, and ever drawing nearer to its prey. As the fly moves, so moves the spider, until 

 the two appear to be animated by one common will. Slowly, but surely, it makes its way 

 towards the unsuspecting fly, and then with a leap so quick that the eye can scarcely follow 

 the movement, it springs upon its prey, rolls perhaps over and over, and in a few moments 



emerges victorious from the contest, 

 its victim dead or dying in its grasp.. 

 Even on a perpendicular wall the 

 spider will make these leaps. It is 

 sure not to fall to the ground as it al- 

 ways draws a silken cord behind it 

 as it moves, and so, whenever it leaps 

 upon its prey, it is able to mount up 

 again to its former post. 



The family Tho?nisidce, or Crab- 

 spiders, are like the preceding, depen- 

 dent for their subsistence upon their 

 bodily powers and activity. The body 

 is usually flat, and wide behind. The 

 front two pair of legs are longer than the others, and so 

 bent that the spider can use them when in a narrow crack, 



o ° ° o Some of them, like crabs, walk better sideways than for- 



Yig. 17. wards. Like the running and jumping spiders, they 



make no webs for catching food. Fig. 17 represents a species of Thomisus, showing at 

 the bottom of the cut the arrangement in two rows of the eight small eyes. As in 

 many other families of spiders, the males are very much smaller than the females. 



The next family, Theridiidce, contains the largest number of species, but the spiders 

 comprising it are usually small, with large rounded abdomens and slender legs. They us- 

 ually live upside down, holding on by their feet to the underside of their webs, as in fig. 18, 



which represents the common house Theri- 



'~^^/ s= i/ == T 'l " ■ [ u — || ~ : dion, much enlarged. They make large 



cobwebs of different shapes for different 

 species, and depend for food on what is 

 caught in them. They are found in all parts 

 of the world, and vary very greatly 

 in their habits. Some live under stones, 

 others are abundant in houses, hiding 

 themselves in shady corners, while the greater 

 number prefer the open air, the fields and 

 commons, spinning their elaborate webs over 

 Fig. is. the bushes, trees, or herbage. Their appear- 



ance and habits must be familiar to every one. 



" TZ^jThe last family on our list is the Epeiridce, or round-web spiders ; it contains some of 

 the strangest members of the race. The individuals are usually large, with flat heads, and 

 eyes wide apart, and with short round abdomens. The upper and under surfaces of a 

 common species, Epeira vulgaris, are represented in figs. 7 and 10. They make webs 

 r armed of radiating lines crossed by other adhesive ones in a spiral or in concentric loops, as 

 in fig. 24. They live in the web, hanging head downwards, or upside down in a hole 

 near by. The webs are usually stretched perpendicularly from branch to branch of a tree, 

 or in the angles of verandahs, fences and other outdoor localities. 



4. — Biti\g Apparatus. 



Almost every one, we imagine, looks upon spiders with a certain degree of abhorrence 

 on. account of the supposed poisonous character of their bite, and the ferocious, blood- 

 tiiirsty disposition ascribed to them. The popular opinion regarding them is, no doubt, 

 immensely exaggerated ; they do, of course, possess a biting apparatus and a poison 

 gland that we shall presently describe, but we do not think they are at all inclined to 



