S P I 
plenty of game, and the tyrant be no way preffed 
with the calls of appetite, he t^ives the fly two or 
three turns in his web, fo as compleatly to entan- 
gle it; and there leaves it till he is hungry. 
Some philofophers have advanced an opinion, 
that the SpiJer in itfclf is both male and female; 
but Lifter has been able to diftinguifh the fexes, 
and to perceive that the males are confiderabiy 
lefs than the females. Nor is this the chief pecu- 
liarity; for, different from all other animals, ex- 
cept the fifh called the ray, it has the inftruments 
of generation in the fore- arms, v/hich have been 
already mentioned. When thefe infefts copulate, 
they for fome time teaze each other with their legs 
and arms; then appear the inftruments of gene- 
ration in the male, as if burfting out from the ex- 
tremities of it's fore-feet; and thefe are inferted 
into the receptacle beneath the body of the fe- 
male. 
The female generally lays from nine hundred 
to a thoufand eggs in a feafon; which are of a 
blueifh colour, fpeckled with black, and fepa- 
rated from each other by a glutinous fubftance, 
not much unlike that which furrounds the fpawn 
of frogs. Thefe eggs are fmall or large in propor- 
tion to the fizeof the animal that produces them. 
In fome, they are as large as a grain of muftard- 
feed; but, in others, they are too minute to be 
diftin(5tly vifible. The female never begins to 
lay till (he is two years old at leaft; and her firft 
brood is never fo numerous as when fhe arrives at 
full maturity. 
When the number of eggs which the Spider 
has produced have continued to dry for an hour 
or two after exclufion, the little animal then pre- 
pares a bag for their reception, where they are to 
be hatched till they leave the fhell. For this pur- 
pofe, (he fpins a web four or five times ftronger 
than that intended for the catching of flies; and, 
befides, lines it internally with down plucked 
from her own breaft. This bag, when com- 
pleated, is as thick as paper, finooth on the in- 
fide, but fomewhat rough without: in this the 
eggs are depofited; and it is almoft incredible 
what concern and induftry the creature Ihews in 
the prefervation of it: it is ftuck, by means of her 
glutinous fluid, to the extremity of her body; fo 
that, when thus loaded, flie appears as if double. 
If the bag fliould happen by any accident to be 
feparated from her, all her afTiduity is employed 
to ftick it again in it's former fituation; and this 
precious treafure fhe feldom abandons but with 
her life. 
When the young are excluded from their Ihells 
■within the bag, they remain for fome time in their 
confinement; till the female, inftin£lively know- 
ing their maturity, bites open their prifon, and 
fets them at liberty. But her parental care does 
not terminate with their exclufion: fhe receives 
them on her back from time to time; till having 
acquired fufficient ftrength to provide for them- 
felvcs, they leave her to return no more, and each 
commences a feparate manufaftory of it's own. 
The young ones begin to fpin when they are 
fcarcely large enough to bedifcerned; and difco- 
rer their propenfity to a life of plunder before Na- 
ture has conferred on them ftrength for the con- 
queft. Indeed, no other infefts poffefs fuch va- 
rious powers of aiTault and defence; for they 
are capable of deftroying animals ten times as 
large as themfelves. Even after a fevere defeat, 
they quickly recover of their wounds i and as for 
their legs, they confider their lofs but a very tri- 
fling misfortune, as they fpeedily arrive at their 
former magnitude. 
There are fcarcely any infefts to which Spiders 
are not inimical; and they are even extremely 
hoftile towards each other. Reaumur, who de- 
lighted in making experiments on infefts, tried 
to turn the labours of Spiders to human advan- 
tage, and aftually had a pair of gloves made from 
their webs. To procure this curious manufac- 
ture, he collefted a large number of thefe animals 
together; and took care to have them conftantly 
fupplied with flics; and alfo the ends of young 
feathers, frefh picked from chickens and pigeons, 
which being replete with blood, are very agree- 
able food to Spiders. But, notwithftanding all 
his folicitude, he was foon convinced that it was 
imprafticable to rear them, fince they were of fuch 
a malignant nature, that they could never be 
brought to live in fociety: for, inftead of fubfift- 
ing on the food with which he plentifully fup- 
plied them, they foon began to devour one another. 
Indeed, were it pofllble to reconcile them to each 
other, too much attendance and expence would 
be requifite to breed a fufficient number to an- 
fwer any beneficial purpofes. Their thread is 
four, if not five times finer than that of the filk- 
worm ; fo that, on the moft moderate calculation, 
there muft be fixty thoufand Spiders to fpin one 
pound of filk. That which Reaumur ufed, was 
only the web wherein they depofited their eggs, 
which is five times ftronger than their ordinary 
manufafture. See Silk-Spider. 
There are various fpecies of Spiders, difi'ering 
from each other confiderabiy in fize, but little in 
nature, habits, or conformation. The Bermudas 
and Martinico Spiders are extremely large. In 
the Eaft Indies, and at the Cape of Good Hope, 
there are feveral fpecies ; fome remarkable for 
their fize, and others for their venom. The ta- 
rantula, an infeft common in Apulia, of which fo 
many fables have been propagated, is of the Spi- 
der kind. See Tarantula. 
Spider, Water. This infeft refembles the 
common Spider in it's appearance, except that 
it's hinder-part is rather conical than globular. 
It difi^ers alfo in being able to live as well on the 
land as in the water; and in being capable of fpin- 
ning as well in the one element as the other. 
The appearance of thefe infefts under water is 
very remarkable; for though they inhabit the 
bottom, they are defended from the element in 
which they refide by a bubble of air which fur- 
rounds them on every fide: this bubble appears 
at the bottom like quickfilver j and within it they 
perform their feveral funftions of eating, fpin- 
ning, and fleeping, without it's ever burfting, or 
in the leaft difturbing their operations. Some- 
times this bubble is obferved to be divided into 
three diftinft apartments: and in the fpring the 
male enters one of them in order to impregnate 
the female; while the bubble in which he was 
contained unites with the other like two drops of 
water in the aft of clofing with each other. 
It is moft probable that thefe Spiders fubfift on 
fuch fmall infefts as are peculiar to both the land 
and the water. 
SPIDER, RED. A genus of infefts of the 
aptera order, in the Linnaan fyftem. It's charac- 
ters are: it has two eyes placed on the fides of the 
head, remote from each other; it's mouth, or pro- 
bofcis, is formed by a fmall pointed roftrum in- 
clofed 
