from the hand, or a pair of forceps, or take water from a 
brush. 
The biting apparatus of a spider consists of a pair of 
mandibles and a pair of maxillae or jaws. The mandibles are 
the pair of strong-grasping organs hanging out 
in front of the head. The sharp claw at the tip 
is usually folded under when not in use. There 
is a small opening at the point of this claw, 
from which the poison flows when an animal 
is bitten. (See Fig. 18.) From the mandibles 
the food is passed to the jaws, which hang 
behind the mandibles, and the blood of the Fi e- 17 - Head and 
victim is sucked out until nothing but a dry spider . Enlarged, 
wad is left, and is cast aside. The pair of leg- ( After Emerton). 
like parts which project forward from the head like a fifth 
pair of legs, are called palpi, and are attached to the maxillae. 
They serve as feelers, and are six-jointed. 
It is interesting to watch spiders spin¬ 
ning their webs. You have already seen that 
the thread comes from the short, fleshy ap¬ 
pendages under the abdomen, which are 
called the spinnerets. There are two, four 
or six of them in different spiders. Some¬ 
times one pair is very long and projects from 
behind like two tails. Each spinneret has on 
its end a large number of minute tubes. The 
material forming the web is a fluid within the body which 
hardens as soon as it is exposed to the air. It streams from 
each of the spinnerets in many fine fibers, 
according to the number of tubes — in 
some species a thousand — and then all 
unite from the six spinnerets, forming a 
single thread. If the spider wishes to 
fasten a thread to any object, it simply 
presses the spinnerets against it and forces 
out enough of the silk to adhere ; then it 
moves off and the thread is drawn out. Fig . 19 . Foot o{ spider . 
If we have a large spider and can take Enlarged. (After Emerton.) 
the thread as it leaves the body, drawing it somewhat rap¬ 
idly, we may easily see the six or four threads, separated 
just where they leave the spinnerets. The spider can, how- 
Enlarged. 
(After Emerton.) 
5 
