1 82 LIFE AND HER CHILDREN. 
is waiting patiently till the weather will allow her to 
spin fresh snares. How mean and shrivelled and 
helpless she looks, any one will know who has ever 
found a spider in this deplorable condition ; and cer- 
tainly no one at first sight would imagine that this 
crumpled -looking object could have the ingenuity 
and skill to weave the web which a few hours later 
will be stretched across the bushes. And yet, as set 
free from your hand she hurries away, scrambling 
over the ground in the twinkling of an eye, or 
dropping nimbly by means of her almost invisible 
thread, there can be no doubt that she is both active 
and intelligent ; and a little patient examination will 
show that the poor despised spider, which for some 
unknown reason is so often disliked by mankind, is 
one of the most industrious and cleanly, skilful and 
patient of life's children ; while she carries upon her 
body some of the most curious implements ever de- 
vised, for doing her work in the world. 
Look at her limbs in their jointed casings (Fig. 64), 
and you will see that here is the same outside horny 
skeleton as in the prawn and the scorpion, with 
elastic skin between the joints ; but her abdomen (a) 
has almost entirely lost the traces of rings, and is 
often covered with fine down ; while her head and 
shoulders, welded like theirs into one piece (/), are 
sturdy and strong, giving her great advantage in 
attacking and devouring the numerous insects which 
fall victims to her bloodthirsty appetite. 
Perhaps you will think at first that she has 
antennae, for two short feelers (p p, Fig. 64) stand 
out in front of her head. But these, like the claws 
of the scorpion, are part of her jaws (/), and are 
