362 . APTERA. 
crooked claws, which enable it to climb with 
so much agility. It is furnished with a 
pair of sharp strong pincers, in order to 
seize its prey ; and when these are not in 
use, they lie folded up in two hollow 
cases, as a knife shuts into the handle. 
There is no division between the head 
and the thorax, which is attached by a 
slender tube to the abdomen. The ab- 
domen is very large in proportion, and 
contains a plentiful store of glutinous 
matter for the construction of the web. 
This substance the spider ejects from 
five little tubercles, or prominences^ which 
are perforated with innumerable and very 
minute apertures, and on being exposed 
to the air it quickly dries, and forms 
the threads of which the cobwebs are 
woven. 
Lucy, How do spiders make their webs, 
and fasten them to walls, or other things ? 
Mother, When a spider has fixed on 
a suitable situation, such as the corner of 
a room, for instance, it presses the little 
tubercles against the wall, and thereby 
