134 
ON THE STRUCTURE AND HABITS 
Another kind of these Hundred-legs, as they are called, viz., Scolopendra , is 
phosphorescent, and is frequently seen shining in the road, as brilliantly as the 
Glow-worm. The other class which frequently goes by the name of an insect- 
tribe, are the Spiders, Araclmidce. They have, however, eight legs and no wings* 
These are very curious and interesting animals, and, although so commonly 
despised, they offer the most beautiful examples we have of the perfection with 
which the Creator has fitted for their station the simplest of His creatures. 
Neglected, persecuted, and despised as these creatures have been by the great 
mass of mankind, they have not been so by naturalists. Some of the most 
important contributions made to the science of Comparative Anatomy have been 
by naturalists who have studied the structure and habits of this class of animals. 
There are many animals in this class not strictly speaking Spiders, but those 
which are Spiders are divided into four kinds : the Hunters, the Vagrants, the 
Sedentaries, and the Swimmers. In each of these groups we find both in struc¬ 
ture and habit something interesting. The Hunters build very neat little houses, 
which they line with a silk that might vie in softness and delicacy of texture 
with the most admired of those formed by the caterpillar of the Silk-worm. 
These seize their prey at a distance from their homes, which, however, they often 
convert into store-houses for the reception of superfluous game. The Vagrants 
generally conceal themselves in a little compact nest which they build, and here 
they watch their unwary prey, which either tumbles by accident into their nest, 
or, when it is near enough, they run out and seize upon it. Thomson draws a 
very accurate picture of these predatory creatures :— 
“ To heedless flies the window proves 
A constant death, where gloomily retired 
The villain Spider lives, cunning and fierce, 
Mixture abhorred ! Amid a mangled heap 
Of carcases, in eager watch he sits, 
Q’erlooking all his waving snares around. 
Near the dire cell, the dreadless wanderer oft 
Passes, as oft the ruffian shews his front; 
The prey at last ensnar’d, he dreadful darts 
With rapid glide along the leaning line; 
And fixing in the wretch his cruel fangs. 
Strikes backwards grimly pleased ; the fluttering wing, 
And shriller sound, declare extreme distress. 
And ask the helping hospitable hand.” 
The Sedentaries are poachers, not sportsmen, in their pursuit of game. They 
spread their nets in places likely to be the resort of luckless Flies, Ants, and other 
insects, concealing themselves carefully somewhere near the spot, till they see some 
victim struggling in their cruel meshes, when they rush out and quickly convey 
their prisoner from the place of his capture to their secret den, where they may feast 
