An Introduction to Mrs. Epeira 
as sharp as those of your cat. Be- 
sides these, there are a number of 
small ones so fine and sharp that 
they make you think of a bunch 
of tiny needles. These are called 
spines. Surrounding both claws and 
spines is a covering of long, stiff 
hairs. 
You are wondering what Mrs. Epeira 
does with her eight feet and legs and 
her twenty-four sharp claws. In the 
first place she runs very rapidly ; with 
four pairs of legs to carry her I sup- 
pose she ought to run four times as 
fast as you do with one pair. Then 
she performs all sorts of athletic feats 
that she never could do if it were not 
for her numerous hooked claws. ‘These 
help her to climb up a vertical wall, 
or to run along one of her tight-rope 
walks,without any fear of tumbling off. 
Then, too, she never could cling as 
she does to the filmy lace hub of her 
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PA: 

“* She performs 
all sorts of athletic feats’”’ 

