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Cornell University Library 
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 Structure and habits of spiders / 
 
 3 1924 024 781 613 
 
^ Cornell University 
 B Library 
 
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 tlie Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924024781613 
 
THE 
 
 STRUCTURE AND HABITS 
 
 SPIDERS. 
 
 J. H. EMERTON. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 BOSTON : 
 
 B. WHIDDEN, PUBLISHER. 
 
 1890. 
 
 N^ 
 
//CORNEILN 
 UNIVERS'TY 
 USRARVy 
 
 COPYRIGHT, 
 
 iJl S. E. CARSINO. 
 1878. 
 
 Elecirotyped 
 
 By C. J. Peters &» Son^ 
 
 Bost07i. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The object of this book is to give a plain account 
 of the best known habits of spiders, and as much 
 of their anatomy and classification as is necessary to 
 understand these habits. The portion on the spinning 
 and flying habits is copied chiefly from Blackwall and 
 Menge ; that on the trap-door spiders from Mogg- 
 ridge ; and the habits of Nephila and Hyptiotes, from 
 Wilder. The observations of these authors have been 
 repeated as far as possible, and some changes and 
 additions made to their accounts of them. The nu- 
 nierous stories of deadly poison, supernatural wisdom, 
 and enormous size and strength of spiders, have been 
 omitted as doubtful. Several cuts from the papers 
 of Professor Wilder have beeti repeated by favor of 
 the author and publishers. Most .of the figures are, 
 however, new, and engraved by photography from 
 my own drawings. 
 
CONTENTS; 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGB 
 
 Anatomy and Classification. — External Parts of a Spider. 
 
 — Feet. — Palpi and Maxillae. — Mandibles. — Breath- 
 ing-Holes. — Epigynum. — Spinnerets. — Eyes. — Colors 
 and Markings. — Internal Organs. — Intestine. — Heart. 
 
 — Breathing-Organs. — Nervous System. — Poison 
 Glands. — Families of Spiders il 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Eating and Biting. — Structure of the Mandibles. — Mouth. 
 
 — Eating Insects. — Biting. — Experiments on Poison 
 
 of Spiders. — Tame Spiders 3^ 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Spinning-Habits.— Spinnerets.— Spinning-Glands.— Be- 
 ginning of a Thread. — Holes and Nests. — Burrows of 
 Lycosa. — Trap-door Nests. — Tubes and Nests of Dras- 
 sidae. — Webs of Agalena. — Webs of Linyphia and 
 Theridion. — Spiders living in Webs made by Others. 
 
 — Round Webs. — Epeira Vulgaris. — Zilla. — Nephila. 
 
 — Habits in the Web. — Curled Webs. — Cribellum 
 and Calamistrum. — Webs of Amaurobius. — Regular 
 Webs of Dictyna. — Triangle Web. — Round Webs with 
 Curled Thread -38 
 
Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Growth of Spiders. — Differences between Male and Fe- 
 male. — Differences between Old and Young. — Male 
 and Female of Nephila and Argiope. — Heads of Male 
 Erigone. — Palpal Organs. — Epigynum. — Use of Pal- 
 pal Organs and Epigynum in Various Spiders. — Laying 
 Eggs. — Cocoons of Drassus, Attus, and Epeira. — Co- 
 coons of Argyrodes and Argiope. — Care of the Cocoon. 
 
 — Parasites. — Growth in the Egg. — Hatching. — Hab- 
 its of Young Spiders. — Moulting. — Habitats of Spiders. 
 
 — Distribution of Spiders 86 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. Under Side of Epeira Vulgaris . . . -13 
 
 ^. Foot of Epeira Vulgaris 14 
 
 3. Foot of Attus Mystaceus 15 
 
 4. Upper Side of Epeira Vulgaris .... 18 
 
 5. Section of Epeira Vulgaris 20 
 
 6. Mygale Hentzii 24 
 
 7. Dysdera Interrita and Eyes 26 
 
 8. Drassus . 26 
 
 9. Agalena NjEvia 27 
 
 10. Lycosa and Eyes 28 
 
 11. Salticus and Eyes 29 
 
 12. Thomisus and Eyes 30 
 
 13. Theridion 31 
 
 14. Mandibles of Epeira Vulgaris. Front View . . 33 
 
 15. Claw of Mandible 33 
 
 16. Spinnerets of Epeira Vulgaris 39 
 
 17. Single Spinning Tube 40 
 
 18. Spinning-Glands 40 
 
 19. Spinneret of Prosthesima 41 
 
 20. Spinneret of Agalena with some of the hairs re- 
 
 moved 41 
 
 21. End of Thread ... . . . 42 
 
 22. Trap-door Nests. Copied from Moggridge . . 47 
 
 23. Nest of Dolomedes 52 
 
 24. Web of Agalena ..,,... 55 
 
 25. Web of Linyphia Marmorata . 1 r • • 57 
 
 vii 
 
5 
 
 viii List of Illustrations. 
 
 PAC3 
 
 26. Web of linyphia Communis 59 
 
 27. Pholcus swinging 61 
 
 28. Round Web of Epeira Vulgaris .... 62 
 
 29. Web of ZUla 65 
 
 30. Web of Nephila Plumipes. From Wilder . . 66 
 
 31. Part of Web of Nephila, to show the smooth 
 
 threads. From Wilder. .... 67 
 
 32. Epeira Spinea . .... 69 
 
 33. Spinnerets of Amaurobius 72 
 
 34. Calamistrum of Amaurobius 73 
 
 35. Dictyna spinning Curled Web . . • 73 
 
 36. Part of Web of Amaurobius 74 
 
 37. Part of Web of Dict\Tia, showing regular arrange- 
 
 ment of threads . .... 
 
 38. Unfinished Web of Triangle Spider. From Wilder . 76 
 
 39. Finished Web of Triangle spider, and Spider hold- 
 
 ing the Web. From Wilder . . 78 
 
 40. Young Lycosa flying Si 
 
 41. Fl)-ing Spider with a Thread attached to the Grotmd . S4 
 
 42. Large Attus flying by a Brush of Threads . . S5 
 
 43. Male and Female Xephila Plumipes. From Wilder, 
 
 in Proceedings Boston Socier.- Natural History . 7S 
 
 44. 45. Heads of irales of Several Species of Erigone 88, 89 
 46. Palpal Organ of Mygale . . 8g 
 
 47- Palpal Organ of Epeira 90 
 
 48. Palpal Organ of Theridion 91 
 
 49- Epig}-num of Epeira Riparia 92 
 
 50. Epigj-num of Theridion 93 
 
 51- EpigjTium of Theridion 94 
 
 52. Copulation of Lycosa 95 
 
 53. Copulation of Lin3'phia . ... 96 
 
 54. Copulation of Agalena .... 96 
 
 55. Copulation of Epeira Riparia 97 
 
 56. Drassus laying Eggs 99 
 
 57. Lycosa carrying Cocoon attached to her Spiimerets . 100 
 
 58. Attus Mystaceas laying Eggs ..... loi 
 
 59. Epeira Strix making Cocoon loi 
 
List of Illitstratioiis. 
 
 60. Epeira Strix laying Eggs . 
 
 61. Cocoon of Argjrodes hanging by a Stem 
 
 62. Cocoon of Epeira Riparia. From Wilder 
 
 63. Eggs during Segmentation 
 
 64. Eggs further Advanced . 
 65 Young Epeira Riparia after First Moult . 
 
 66. Moulting of NepWla Plumipes. From ^^ilder m 
 
 Proceedings American Association 
 
 67. Nephila Plumipes just after Moulting. From Wilder 
 
 102 
 103 
 103 
 106 
 108 
 109 
 
 III 
 III 
 
THE STRUCTURE AND HABITS 
 OF SPIDERS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ANATOMV AXn CLASSIFICATIOK. 
 
 The spiders form a small and distinct group 
 of animals, related to the scorpions, the daddy- 
 long-legs, and the mites, and less closely to the 
 insects and crabs. The}- are distinguished by 
 the more complete separation of the body into 
 two parts ; by their two-jointed mandibles, dis- 
 charging a poisonous secretion at the tip ; and 
 by their spinning-organs, and habits of making 
 cobwebs and silk cocoons for their eggs. 
 
 The common round-web spider, Epcira vul- 
 garis of Hentz, will sene as well as any 
 species to show the anatomy of spiders in 
 general. Fig. i shows the under side of this 
 
12 The Structure and Habits of Spiders. 
 
 spider ; Fig. 4, the upper side ; and Fig. 5, an 
 imaginary section through the body, to show 
 the arrangement of the internal organs. To 
 begin with Fig. i : the body is seen to be di- 
 vided into two parts, connected only by the nar- 
 row joint. A, just behind the last pair of legs. 
 The front half of the body, called the thorax, 
 contains the stomach, the central part of the 
 nerv'ous system, and the large muscles which 
 work the legs and jaws. The hinder half, the 
 abdomen, contains the intestine, the breathing- 
 organs, the principal circulating-vessels, the or- 
 gans of reproduction, and the spinning-organs. 
 Connected with the thorax are six pairs of 
 limbs, four pairs of legs, B B B B, a pair of 
 palpi, C, and a pair of mandibles, D. 
 
 LEGS. 
 
 The legs are used chiefly for running, jump- 
 ing, and chmbing; but the front pair serve often 
 as feelers, being held up before the body while 
 the spider walks steadily enough on the other 
 six. One or both of the hinder legs are used to 
 guide the thread in spinning ; the spider at the 
 same time walkinsr or climbinsr about with the 
 
Tite Structure ami Habits of Spiders. i: 
 
 Fig. I. 
 
14 The Strticture and Habits of Spiders. 
 
 other six or seven. The legs are seven-jointed; 
 and on the terminal joint are three claws. Fig. 
 2, A, B, C, and various hair and spines. In 
 many spiders a brush of hairs takes the place 
 of the middle claw, as in the jxmiping spiders. 
 Fig. 3. Spiders with these brushes on their 
 feet can walk up a steep surface, or under a 
 
 horizontal one, better than those who have 
 three claws. The legs of most spiders have 
 among the hairs movable spines, which, when 
 the spider is running about, extend outward 
 at a right angle with the leg, and, when it is 
 resting, are closed down against the skin. 
 
Tlu Stnictiuc atid Habits of Spiders. 15 
 
 PALPI. 
 
 In front of the legs are the palpi. Fig. i, C, C, 
 — a smaller pair of limbs, with six joints and 
 only one claw or none. The\- are used as feelers, 
 and for handling food, and, in the males, carry 
 
 ' lii/m 
 
 the curious palpal org-ans, which will be de- 
 scribed farther on. The basal joints. Fig. i, 
 E. of the palpi are flattened oi;t, and serve as 
 chewing-orguns. called " maxilte." 
 
 Mr. Mason has lately described, in the Trans- 
 
1 6 The Structure atid Habits of Spiders. 
 
 actions of the Entomological Society of Lon- 
 don, a large spider which has teeth on the 
 inside of the palpi, which, when the spider is 
 angry, are rubbed against teeth on the mandi- 
 bles, producing a noise. 
 
 MANDIBLES. 
 
 The front pair of limbs, the mandibles, Fig. i, 
 D, are two-jointed. The basal joint is usually 
 short and stout, and furnished on the inner side 
 with teeth and hairs. The terminal joint is a 
 small and sharp claw, which can be closed 
 against the basal joint when not in use. 
 
 ABDOMEX. 
 
 On the under side of the abdomen, just 
 behind the last pair of legs, are two hard, 
 smooth patches, which cover the front pair of 
 breathing-organs, the openings to which are 
 two little slits at Fig. i, H. Between these is 
 the opening of the reproductive organs, and, in 
 female spiders, the epigynum. Fig. i, J, — an 
 apparatus for holding the reproductive cells of 
 the male. 
 
 At the end of the body are the spinnerets. 
 
Tlie Structure and Habits of Spiders. 17 
 
 which will be described in another chapter. 
 There are three pairs of them ; but many- 
 spiders close them together when not in use, 
 so as to cover up the middle pair. The third 
 pair of spinnerets are often several-jointed, 
 and extend out behind the body like two tails. 
 In front of the spinnerets is a little open- 
 ing. Fig. I, K, which leads to air-tubes that give 
 off branches to different parts of the abdomen. 
 At M, Fig. I, are usually two colored bands, or 
 rows of spots, marking the course of muscles 
 attached to the skin at various points along 
 these lines. 
 
 Fig. 4 is the back of the same spider. The 
 head is not separated from the rest of the body, 
 as in insects, but forms, with the thorax, one 
 piece. On the front of the head are eight ej-es, 
 O, which are differently' arranged in different 
 spiders. At the back part of the thorax is a 
 groove, P, under which is attached a muscle 
 for mo^"ing the sucking-stomach, Fig. 5, d. 
 From this point radiate shallow grooves, that 
 follow the dix-isions between the muscles of the 
 legs. On the abdomen are several pairs of 
 dark smooth spots, which mark the ends of 
 
1 8 The Stnicture and Habits of Spiders. 
 
 Fig. 4- 
 
The Structure attd Habits of Spiders. 19 
 
 muscles extending downward through the abdo- 
 men. The markings of this spider are ver)- 
 complicated. The spot on the middle of the 
 front of the abdomen is a very common one, 
 and, in some spiders, extends the whole length 
 of the body. The waved lines on each side 
 are also common, and, in long-bodied spiders, 
 often form two bright-colored stripes, or rows 
 of spots, running nearly straight the whole 
 length of the abdomen. 
 
 IXTESTIXE. 
 
 Fig. 5 is a section of the same spider. 
 The mouth is at a b, just under and behind 
 the mandibles, and between the maxillae. It 
 has an upper, a, and under lip, b. each lined 
 with a homy plate, in the middle of which runs 
 a groove. WTien the lips are closed, the two 
 <T00\es form a tube, which leads to the oesopha- 
 crus, <-, and so into the stomach. At the end 
 of the oesophagus is the sucking-stomach. This 
 consists of a flattened. tube, to the top of which 
 is attached a muscle, d, connected \nth the 
 groove in the back ; and to the bottom, muscles,/ 
 attached to a tough diaphragm spreading across 
 
2b The Strzicture and Habits of Spiders. 
 
Tlie Structure and Habits of Spiders. 21 
 
 the thorax, and fastened between the legs on 
 each side at gg. \Mien these muscles contract, 
 tlie top and bottom of the sucking-stomach are 
 drawn apart, and whatever is in the oesophagus 
 sucked in. Bv this pumping motion the spider 
 is supposed to take liquid food from the mouth, 
 and dri\e it backward into the abdomen. Just 
 behind the sucking-stomach, the intestine gi\es 
 off two branches, -.- c, which extend forward 
 around the stomach muscle, and meet over the 
 mouth. Each of these branches gives off on 
 the outer side four smaller branches, ;/; m m m, 
 which extend dowTiward, — one in front of each 
 leg. — and unite on the under side of the 
 thorax. 
 
 The intestine, 0, continues backward through 
 the abdomen to the anus, in the little knob 
 behind the spinnerete. The brown mass which 
 surrounds the intestine, and fills the abdomen 
 above it, is supposed to be a secreting-organ 
 discharging into the intestine at several points. 
 
 HEART. 
 
 Ch'er the intestine, and parallel with it, is the 
 heart, /, a muscular tube, with openings along 
 
22 The Structure and Habits of Spiders. 
 
 the sides to receive the blood, and branches 
 through which it flows to different parts of 
 the body. The greater part of the blood 
 enters at the front of the heart, and passes 
 backward into the abdomen, or forward into 
 the thorax. 
 
 BREATHIXG-ORGANS. 
 
 In the front of the abdomen are the princi- 
 pal breathing-organs, — a pair of sacs, R, con- 
 taining a number of thin plates, through which 
 the blood passes on its way to the heart Be- 
 sides these, there is a pair of branching air- 
 tubes, t, opening near the spinnerets. 
 
 XERVOUS SYSTEIL 
 
 The nervous system has a large ganglion, J, 
 in the thorax, from which branches, /, pass to the 
 limbs and abdomen. At the front end two 
 branches extend upward, each side of the 
 oesophagus, to two smaller ganglia, k, from 
 which pass nen,-es to the mandibles and eyes. 
 
 The reproductive organs, S, lie along the 
 under side of the abdomen, and open between 
 the two air-sacs. 
 
TJu Striictitic ,uid Habits of Spiders. 23 
 
 The spinning-glands, //, lie above the spinner- 
 ets, and along the under side of the abdomen. 
 They will be more fully described in the chapter 
 on spinning. 
 
 POISOX-GLAXDS. 
 
 The poison-glands, ;;, are partly in the basal 
 joints of the mandibles, and partly in the head, 
 and discharge by a tube which opens at the 
 point of the claw of the mandible. Fig. 1 5 , a. 
 
 CLASSIFICATION. 
 
 There is not room in this book to explain the 
 classification of spiders into genera and species ; 
 but a description of the following well-marked 
 groups, which contain nine-tenths of all spiders, 
 vcill give a general idea of the differences among 
 them, and help to understand what follows. 
 
 MVGAHD.E. 
 
 This family includes the largest known spi- 
 ders. The body is usuall}^ ver\- hairy and dark- 
 colored. Most species have only four spinner- 
 ets ; and one pair of these are iong, and are 
 turned up behind the abdomen. They have 
 
24 The Striicture and Habits of Spidery. 
 
 four air-sacs under the front of the abdomen, 
 instead of two, as other spiders. Their man- 
 
 Fig. 6. 
 
 dibles are van,- large, and work up and down, 
 instead of sidewise. The e\-es are collected 
 
Tlie Structure and Habits of Spiders. 
 
 ■^i 
 
 together on the front of the head. They live 
 only in warm countries. Specimens from 
 South America are exhibited in every natural 
 history museum. Fig. 6 represents Mygak 
 Hcntzii, a species li\'ing in Arizona and Texas. 
 
 DYSDERID^. 
 
 A small family of spiders with only six eyes. 
 They have also four breathing-holes in the front 
 of the abdomen ; but one pair leads to branched 
 tubes instead of sacs. They are usually found 
 under stones, with their legs drawn up close to 
 their bodies, but can move ver\' quickly when 
 so inclined. \"ery few species are known, and 
 none are common, in North America, Fig. 7 is 
 Dysdcra intcrrita enlarged. Below are the eyes 
 as seen from in front. 
 
 ORA5SID.E. 
 
 A large family of spiders, var}'^ing greatly in 
 shape, color, and habits. I\Iost of them are 
 dull colored, and live under stones, or in silk 
 tubes on plants, and make no webs for catching 
 insects. Their eyes are small, and arranged in 
 n\o rows on the front of the head. Their feet 
 
26 The Structure and Habits of Spiders. 
 
 have two claws and a bunch of flat hairs. The 
 spinnerets are usually long enough to extend a 
 little behind the abdomen. Fig. 8 is a Drasstis, 
 and the eyca as seen from in front. 
 
 Fig. 8. 
 
 AGALEXID.E. 
 
 Long-legged, brown spiders, with two spin- 
 nerets longer than the others, and extending 
 out behind the body. They make fiat webs, 
 with a funnel-shaped tube at one side, Fig. 24, 
 in which the spider waits. Fig. 9 is Agalena 
 ncBi-ia, the common grass spider. 
 
The Sti-uctinr and Habits of Spiders. 27 
 
 Fig. 9. 
 CINIFLOXID.E. 
 
 A family resembling the last, but having 
 peculiar spinning-organs, which will be de- 
 scribed farther on. Fig. 35. 
 
 LYCOSID^. 
 
 The running spiders. \^ery active spiders. 
 
28 The Structure and Habits of Spiders. 
 
 living in open places, and catching their prey 
 without webs. Their legs are long, the hind 
 pair being the longest The head is. high, and 
 the arrangement of the eyes peculiar to the 
 family, Fig. lo. 
 
 Fig- lo. 
 
 ATTID.E. 
 
 The jumping spiders. The body is usually 
 short, and the head square. The arrange- 
 ment of the eyes is characteristic. Fig. ir, a. 
 The two large ones in the middle give these 
 
TIu Structure and Habits of Spiders. 29 
 
 spiders a more animated look than those of oth- 
 er families. The legs are short, and the front 
 pair often stouter than the others. They can 
 walk easily backvvards or sidewise, and jump a 
 long distance. Fig. 11 is the common gray 
 jumping spider enlarged. 
 
 °oo° 
 
 Fig. xz a. 
 
 Fig. II. 
 
 THOMISID^. 
 
 The crab spiders. The body is usualh" flat, 
 and wide behind. The front two pair of legs 
 are longer than the others, and so bent that the 
 spider can use them when in a narrow crack. 
 Some of them, like crabs, walk better side^^"ise 
 than forwards. Like the running and jumping 
 spiders, they make no webs for catching food. 
 
30 The Structure and Habits of Spiders. 
 
 The eyes are small, and simply arranged in two 
 rows, Fig. 12. 
 
 Fig. 
 
 THERIDIID^. 
 
 The largest family of spiders. Most of them 
 are small, with large rounded abdomens and 
 slender legs. They live usually upside down, 
 holding by their feet under their webs. They 
 make large cobwebs of different shapes for 
 different species, and depend for food on what 
 is caught in them. To this group belongs the 
 
r'.c Stnutiitc- and Hants of Sfidcrs. 31 
 
 genus Eri^cvu; containing a great number of 
 the smallest spiders known. Fig. 13 is the 
 common house Thcridion enlarged. 
 
 EPEIRID.5:. 
 The round-web spiders. Large spiders, with 
 flat heads, and eves wide apart, and short, 
 round abdomens. Figs, i, 4. The}' make webs 
 formed of radiating lines crossed by other adhe- 
 sive ones in a spiral or concentric loops. Fig. 
 jS. The\' hang in the web, head downward, 
 or live upside down in a hole near by. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 EATING AND BITING. 
 
 The spiders are best known and hated as 
 animals that bite. The biting apparatus is 
 shown in Fig. 14, which represents the head 
 and mandibles of Epeira vulgaris, seen from in 
 front. When not in use, the claw is closed up 
 against the mandible between the rows of 
 teeth ; but, when the jaws are opened to bite, 
 the claws are turned outward, so that their 
 points can be stuck into any thing between the 
 jaws. Fig. 15 is the claw still more enlarged, 
 showing a little hole near the point at a, out of 
 which is discharged the secretion of a gland in 
 the head. Fig. 5, «. The ordinary use of the 
 mandibles is for killing and crushing insects, so 
 that the soft parts can be eaten by the spider ; 
 32 
 
The Struiturr ami Hnhits of Sfidrrs. 33 
 
 and in this they are aided by the maxillae, Fig. 
 I, E. They will sometimes chew an insect for 
 hours, until it becomes a round lump of skin. 
 
 Fig. 15. 
 
 with all the blood sucked out of it ; this is then 
 thrown away, the spider swallowing onh" such 
 bits as max happen to be sucked in with the 
 liquid portion. 
 
 If let alone, no spiders bite any thing except 
 insects useful for food ; but, when attacked and 
 cornered, all species open their jaws, and bite 
 if they can ; their ability to do so depending 
 on their size, and the strength of their jaws. 
 Notwithstanding the number of stings and 
 pimples that are laid to spiders, undoubted 
 
34 The Structure and Habits of Spiders. 
 
 cases of their biting the human skin are very 
 rare ; and the stories of death, insanity, and 
 lameness from spider-bites, are probably all 
 untrue. 
 
 Many experiments have been tried to test 
 the effect of the bites of spiders on animals. 
 Doleschall shut up small birds with Mygale 
 yavanica and Mygale Sumatrensis, both large 
 and strong spiders ; and the birds died in a few 
 seconds after being bitten. One of the spiders 
 was left for ten days without food, and then 
 made to bite another bird, which was injured, 
 but in six hours recovered. The same author 
 was bitten in the finger by a jumping spider. 
 The pain was severe for a few minutes, and 
 was followed by lameness of the finger, and 
 gradually of the hand and arm, which soon 
 went away entirely. 
 
 Bertkau allowed spiders to bite his hand. 
 On the ends of the fingers the skin was too 
 thick ; but between the fingers they easily 
 pricked it The bite swelled and smarted for 
 a quarter of an hour, and then itched for some 
 time, and for a day after itched whenever 
 rubbed, as mosquito-bites will. He also experi- 
 
The Structure and Habits of Spiders. 35 
 
 mented on flies, which died in a few minutes 
 after being bitten. 
 
 I\Ir. Blackwall, to test the poison of spiders, 
 made several large ones bite his hand and arm, 
 and at the same time pricked himself with a 
 needle. Although the spiders bit deep enough 
 to draw blood, the effect of their bite was 
 exactly like that of the prick of the needle. 
 No inflammation or pain followed, and both 
 healed immediately. 
 
 Several spiders were placed together, and 
 made to bite one another. The bitten ones 
 lived al\va\s some hours, and died from loss of 
 blood ; and one spider, that had been bitten in 
 the abdomen so that some of the liver escaped 
 and dried on the outside, lived over a year, 
 apparently in good health. 
 
 A large spider was made to bite a wasp near 
 the base of the right front-wing, so as to dis- 
 able it : but it lived thirteen hours. 
 
 A nee was bitten by a large spider, but lived 
 three days. 
 
 A grasshopper was bitten, and held in the 
 jaws of a spider for several seconds ; but it 
 lived in apparent health for two days. 
 
36 The Stnuture and Habits of Spiders. 
 
 Insects of the same kinds were wounded in 
 the same places with needles, and died in 
 about the same time as when bitten. 
 
 From these experiments Mr. Blackwall was 
 led to beUeve that the secretion from the 
 spider's jaws is not poisonous, but that insects 
 die, when bitten, from loss of blood and me- 
 chanical injury. 
 
 Mr. Moggridge, who studied the habits of 
 trap-door spiders for several years, was more 
 than once bitten by them, but never had any 
 pain or inflammation from the bites. 
 
 The bites of Latrodectus gitttatits of the 
 south of Europe, and an allied species in Cali- 
 fornia, are much dreaded, but probably as much 
 on account of the size and conspicuous colors 
 of the spider as any thing else. 
 
 The Tarantula, also a south European spider, 
 has been supposed to cause epilepsy by its 
 bites, which could only be relieved by music of 
 particular kinds. These stories appear, how- 
 ever, to be all nonsense : at any rate, the Taran- 
 tula bites produce no such effect nowadays. 
 These spiders live in holes in sand, out of 
 which they rush after passing insects, and may 
 
The Structure and Habits of Spidcis. 37 
 
 be caught by a straw moved carefully o\-er the 
 holes like an insect. They are no more savage 
 in their habits than other spiders ; and Dufour 
 kept one that soon learned to take flies from 
 his fingers without biting him. 
 
 Spiders of \ery different species soon learn 
 to take food from the hand or a pair of forceps, 
 or water from a brush, and will come to the 
 mouth of their bottle, and reach after it on tip- 
 toe. 
 
 Many stories are told of spiders coming out 
 of their holes to listen to music, and of their 
 being taught to come out and take food at the 
 sound of an instrument. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 SPIXXIXG HABITS. 
 
 That which, more than any thing else, distin- 
 guishes spiders from other animals is the habit 
 of spinning webs. Some of the mites spin ir- 
 regular threads on plants, or cocoons for their 
 eggs ; and many insects spin cocoons in which 
 to pass through the change from larva to adult. 
 In the spiders the spinning-organs are much 
 more complicated, and used for a greater variety 
 of purposes, — for making egg-cocoons, silk 
 linings to their nests, and nets for catching 
 insects. The spider's thread differs from that 
 of insects, in being made up of a great number 
 of finer threads laid together while soft enough 
 to unite into one. 
 
 38 
 
r/.t Stnictuir ct/ui Habits of Spiders. 39 
 
 SPINXERET5. 
 
 The external spinning-organs ai-e little two- 
 jointed tubes on the ends of the spinnerets, Fis,. 
 I, L. Fig, 16 is the spinnerets of the same spi- 
 der, still more enlarged to show the arrangement 
 of the tubes. There is a large number of little 
 
 Fig. 16. 
 
 tubes on each spinneret, and in certain places 
 a few larger ones. Fig. 17 is a single tube, 
 showing the ducta wliich leads the ^■^scid liquid 
 to form the thread from a glaiid in the spider's 
 
40 The Striicticre and Habits of Spiders. 
 
 abdomen. Each tube is the outlet of a separate 
 gland. Fig. i8, a, shows four small tubes from 
 a spinneret of Epeira, each with a small gland 
 attached; and Fig. i2,,b,2. large tube, with one 
 of the large glands which extends forward the 
 whole length of the abdomen. Fig. 5, u. 
 
 Fi^. 17. 
 
 Fig. i3. 
 
 The shape of the spinnerets, and size and 
 arrangement of the tubes, varv" in different spe- 
 cies. Fig. 19 is a spinneret of Prosthesima, 
 where there are a few large tubes in place of 
 many small ones. In Agale7ia the two hinder 
 spinnerets are long, and have spinning-tubes 
 along the under side of the last joint. Fig. 20. 
 
Tlu Structure and Habits of Spiders. 41 
 
 When the spider begins a thread, 
 it presses the spinnerets against 
 some object, and forces out enough 
 of the secretion from 
 each tube to adhere 
 to it. Then it moves 
 the spinnerets away ; 
 and the \'iscid liquid 
 is drawn out, and 
 
 F>g. 19. 
 
 hardens at once into threads, — 
 one from each tube. If the spin- 
 nerets are kept apart, a band of 
 threads is formed ; but, if they 
 are closed together, the fine 
 threads unite into one or more 
 larger ones. If a spider is 
 allowed to attach its thread to 
 glass, the end can be seen spread 
 out over a surface as large as 
 the ends of the spinnerets, cov- 
 ered with ven," fine threads point- 
 ing toward the middle, where 
 they unite. Fig. 21. 
 
 The spinning is commonly 
 helped by the hinder feet, which 
 
 
42 The Striuture and Habits of Spiders. 
 
 guide the thread, and keep it clear of sur- 
 rounding objects, and even pull it from the 
 spinnerets. This is well seen when an insect 
 has been caught in a web, and the spider is 
 trying to tie it up with threads. She goes as 
 near as she safely can, and draws out a band 
 of fine threads, which she reaches out toward 
 
 Fig. 21. 
 
 the insect with one of her hind-feet; so that 
 it may strike the threads as it kicks, and 
 become entangled with them. As soon as the 
 insect is tied tighth" enough to be handled, the 
 spider holds and turns it over and over with her 
 third pair of feet, while, with the fourth pair, 
 she draws out, hand over hand, the band of 
 fine threads which adhere to the insect as it 
 turns, and soon cover it entirely. 
 
The Stnuturc arid Habits of Sfutrrs. 43 
 
 It is a common habit with spiders to draw- 
 out a thread behind as they walk along ; and in 
 this way they make the great quantities of 
 threads that sometimes cover a field of i:Tass. or 
 the side of a house. We often see the points 
 of all the pickets of a fence connected by 
 threads spun in this way by spiders running 
 down one picket, and up the next, for no appar- 
 ent purpose. 
 
 Spiders often descend b)- letting out the 
 thread to which they hang : and are able to 
 control their -speed, and to stop the flow of 
 thread, at will. They sometimes hang down by 
 a thread, and xllow themselves to be swung 
 by the wind to a considerable distance, letting 
 ov.t the thread when thev feel thev are going 
 in the rigp.t direction. 
 
 Spiders in confinement begin at once to spin. 
 and never seem comfortable till they can go all 
 over their box without stepping off their web. 
 The running spiders, that make no other webs. 
 nhen about to laj- their eggs, find or dig out 
 holes in sheltered places, and line them with 
 silk. S^oecies that live under stones or on 
 plants all line their customary hiding-places 
 
44 TJie Structure and Habits of Spiders. 
 
 with web, to which they hold when at rest. 
 Several of the large running spiders dig holes 
 in sand, and line them with web, so that the 
 sand cannot fall in ; and bmld around the mouth 
 a ring of sticks and straws held together by 
 threads. 
 
 TR.\P-DOOR NESTS. 
 
 The building of tubular nests is carried to 
 the greatest perfection by certain genera of the 
 2Iygalid(z. (See page 13.) 
 
 Atypiis, the most northern genus of this 
 family, makes a strong silken tube, part of 
 which forms the lining of a hole in the ground, 
 and part lies above the surface, among stones 
 and plants. Fig. 22. A. The mouth of the 
 tube is almost always closed, at least when 
 the spider is full grown. 
 
 Another genus, which Uves in warm countries, 
 makes tubes lined with silk, and closed at the 
 top by a trap-door. A common species, Cteniza 
 Californica, lives in the southern part of Cali- 
 fornia, and is often brought east by travellers. 
 It digs its hole in a fine soil, that becomes, 
 when dn.', nearly as hard as a brick ; but the 
 spider probably works when the ground is weL 
 
Tlu Stnuture and Habits cf Spiders. 45 
 
 The holes are sometimes nearly an inch in 
 diameter, and van- in depth from two or three 
 inches to a foot. The mouth is a little 
 enlarged, and closed by a thick cover th.ii rs 
 tightly into it, like a cork into a bottle. The 
 cover is made of dirt fastened together with 
 threads, and is lined, like the tube, with silk. 
 and fastened by a thick hinge of silk at one side. 
 Fig. 22. B. WTien the cover is closed, it looks 
 exactly like the ground aroimd it. The spider 
 holds on the inside of the door with the man- 
 dibles and the two front pairs of feet ; while 
 the third and fourth pairs of legs are pressed 
 out against the walls of the tube, and hold 
 the spider down so firmly, that it is impossible 
 to raise the cover without tearing it. 
 
 Among the trap-door spiders of Southern 
 Europe, about which Mr. T. T. IMoggxidge has 
 •nxitten a ven- interesting book, axe species 
 which make different kinds of nests. The 
 cover, instead of being thick, and wedged into 
 the top of the tube like a stopper, is thin, and 
 rests on the top of the hole. F:g. 22. C, and is 
 covered with leaves, moss, or whatever happens 
 to be King about ; so that it is not easily seen. 
 
46 TJie Stmcttire and Habits of Spiders. 
 
 Two or three inches down the tube is another 
 door, Fig. 22, E, hanging to one side of the 
 tube when not in use ; but, when one tries to 
 dig the spider out from above, she pushes up 
 the lower door, so that it looks as if it were 
 the bottom of an empty tube. 
 
 Another species digs a branch obliquely 
 upward from the middle of the tube, closed 
 at the junction by a hanging-door, which, when 
 pushed upward, can also be used to close the 
 main tube. Fig. 22, F. WTiat use the spider 
 makes of such a complicated nest, nobody 
 knows from observation ; but ^Ir. Moggridge 
 supposes that when an enemy, a parasitic fly, 
 for instance, comes into the mouth of the 
 tube, the spider stops up the passage by press- 
 ing up against the lower door; but, if this is 
 not enough, it dodges into the branch, draws 
 the door to behind it, and leaves the intruder 
 to amuse himself in the empty tube. The 
 branch is sometimes carried up to the surface, 
 where it is closed onl}" by a few threads; so 
 that, in case of siege, the spider could escape, 
 and leave the whole nest to the enemy. 
 
 In these nests the spiders live most of the 
 
Tlu Structure and Habits of Spiders. 47 
 
48 The Structure mid Habits of Spiders. 
 
 time, coming out at night, and some species in 
 the daytime, to catch insects, which they cany 
 into the tube, and eat. The eggs are laid in the 
 tube ; and the young are hatched, and live there 
 till able to go alone, when they go out, and dig 
 little holes of their own. As the spider gets 
 larger, the hole is made wid^r, and the cover 
 enlarged by adding a layer of earth and silk ; so 
 that an old cover is made up of a number of 
 layers, one over the other, over the original 
 Uttle cover. 
 
 ^Moggridge once took a Cteniza Californica out 
 of her nest, and put her on a pot of earth, and 
 the next morning had the good luck to see her 
 at work digging. She loosened the earth with 
 her mandibles, and took it in little lumps with 
 the mandibles and maxillae, and carried it away 
 piece by piece. It took her an hour to dig a 
 hollow as large as half a walnut He saw the 
 making of the door twice by other species. 
 Once he dug a hole for a spider in some earth, 
 and the next day found her in it, and the top 
 covered by a little web, on which were scattered 
 bits of earth and leaves, which had e\'idently 
 been put there by the spider. The second 
 
T/:c Stnictnrt and Habits of Sfiifirs. 49 
 
 night, enough dirt and silk were added to make 
 the door of the usual thickness ; but the spider 
 never finished it so that it would open properly 
 on its hinge. Another time IMoggridge saw at 
 tlie mouth of a \ei y small hole a spider at work 
 making a door. She spun a few threads across 
 the hole, then gathered up with her front-legs 
 and palpi an armful of dirt, and laid it on top of 
 them. She then got under the pile, into the 
 tube ; but the motions of the dirt showed that 
 she was still at work on it. and next morning 
 the under side had been thickly covered with 
 web, and the whole separated from the mouth 
 of the tube, except at one side, where the usu.il 
 hinge was left. The new door was at f.rst soft, 
 but in two or tir.ee da\-s hardened, and appeared 
 exactly like an old door. 
 
 These spiders are accustomed to put on the 
 door moss like that which grows around it. 
 and so conce-il the door from sight : but when 
 Mr. iMoirgxidge took away the moss, and dug up 
 the iiTOund around a hole, and then destroyed 
 the cover, the spider made a new one. and 
 brouo"ht moss from a distance to put on it, 
 thereby making it the most conspicuous thing 
 in the nei.;hborhood. 
 
50 The Stnuture and Habits of Spiders. 
 
 Mr. S. S. Saunders tried to see trap-door 
 spiders make their nests. When the earth was 
 dry, they would do nothing ; but, after watering 
 it, they several times dug new holes, but always 
 in the night. 
 
 The food of the European trap-door spiders 
 consists largely of ants and other wingless 
 insects, and they have been known to eat earth- 
 worms and caterpillars. Mr. Moggridge has 
 often seen them, even in the daytime, open 
 their doors a little, and snatch at passing in- 
 sects, sometimes taking hold of one too large 
 to draw into the tube. One time he and some 
 friends marked some holes, and went and 
 watched them in the night. The doors were 
 slightly open, and some of the spiders' legs 
 thrust out over the rim of the hole. He held a 
 beetle near one of the spiders ; and she reached 
 the front part of her body out of the tube, push- 
 ing the door wide open, seized the beetle, and 
 backed quickly into the tube again, the door 
 closing by its own weight. Shortly after, she 
 opened it again, and put the beetle out alive and 
 unhurt, probably because it was too hard to eat. 
 He ne.xt drove a sow-bug near another hole ; 
 
The Structure and Habits of Spiders. 5 i 
 
 and the spider came out and snatched it in the 
 same wa}*, and kept it. Xone of the spiders 
 came entirely out of their holes, and the\- were 
 onh a little more active than in the daytime. 
 
 Erber, in the Island of Tinos, noticed a place 
 where se\"eral trap-door nests were near each 
 other, and spent a moonlight night watching 
 tliem. Soon after nine o'clock some of the 
 spiders came out. fastened back their doors, 
 and each spun a web, about six inches long and 
 all inch high, among the grass near her hole, 
 and went back into the tube. In course of 
 time beetles were caught in the webs, and 
 eaten bv the spiders, and the hard parts carried 
 several feet from the nest. The next morning 
 the webs had been cleared away, and the doors 
 of tlie tubes closed, leaving no traces of the 
 night's work. 
 
 SILK TUBES AXD XESTS. 
 
 Several species of Tlu-ridic'i and Ef<.-:rj 
 make tents near their webs, under which they 
 hang when at rest, and in which some species 
 make their cocoons, and lay their eggs. The 
 tert? are usi:a':]v covered outside witli leaves 
 
52 The Structure and Habits of Spiders. 
 
 drawn together, with sticks or bud-scales col- 
 lected near by, or with earth and stones brought 
 up from the ground below. 
 
 Some spiders liv-ing on plants make flat 
 tubes, in which they wait for insects, and als^; 
 hide while moulting, or laying eggs. Others 
 make, especially about the breeding-time, bags 
 
 Fif. 23. 
 
 of silk on plants, or under stones, in which the 
 egg-cocoons are finally spun. 
 
 Dolomedes makes among grass and shrubs, in 
 meadows, a great nest. f<jur or five inches in 
 diameter, Fig. 23, in which is the egg-cocoon. 
 The young hatch and ramble about in this nest 
 for some time. The spider remains near, 
 usually holding on under the nest. 
 
The Stmctttre and Habits ef Spiders. 53 
 
 THE WATER-SPIDER. 
 
 There is one spider that makes a bag of silk, 
 something like those just mentioned, on water- 
 plants, and lives in it under water, as in a div- 
 ing-bell ; the opening being below, so that the 
 air cannot escape. Mr. Bell, in " The Journal 
 of the Linnaean Society," \xA. i., 1857, describes 
 the fiUing of these nests with air by the spider. 
 After the nest had been made as large as half 
 an acorn, she went to the surface, and returned, 
 fourteen times successively, and each time 
 brought down a bubble of air. which she let 
 escape into the nest. The bubble was held by 
 the spinnerets and two hind-feet, which were 
 crossed over them : and the method of catching 
 it was the following : The spider climbed up on 
 threads or plants nearly to the surface, and put 
 the end of the abdomen out of water for an 
 instant, and then jerked it under, at the same 
 time crossing the hind4^s quickl)- over it 
 She then walked do\ra the plants to her nest, 
 opened her hind-feet, and let the bubble go. 
 
 The water-spiders run about on water-plants, 
 and catch the insects which live among them. 
 
54 TIti: Structure and Habits of Spiders. 
 
 They lay their eggs in the nest ; and the young- 
 come out, and spin little nests of their own, as 
 soon as they are big enough. Their hairs keep 
 the skin from becoming wet as they go through 
 the water ; and in the nest they are as dry as if 
 it were under a stone, or in a hole on land. 
 
 COBWEBS. 
 
 The simple nests and tubes that have been 
 described are made by spiders, most of which 
 spin no other webs. The larger and better 
 known cobwebs for catching insects are made 
 by comparatively few species. On damp morn- 
 ings in summer the grass-fields are seen to be 
 half covered with flat webs, from an inch or two 
 to a foot in diameter, which are considered by 
 the weatherwise as signs of a fair day. These 
 webs remain on the g^ass all the time, but only 
 become visible from a distance when the dew 
 settles on them. Fig. 24 is a diagram of one of 
 these nests, supposed, for convenience, to be 
 spun between pegs instead of grass. The flat 
 part consists of strong threads from peg to peg, 
 crossed by finer ones, which the spider spins 
 with the long hind-spinnerets. Fig. 20, swing- 
 
Tke Struct tin- and Habits of Sfiihrs. 55 
 ing them from side to side, and laying down a 
 
 band of threads at each stroke The web is so 
 close and dgfa^ that one can hear the footsteps 
 
56 TJu Structure and Habits of Spiders. 
 
 of the spider as she runs about on it. At one 
 side of the web is a tube leading down among 
 the grass-stems. At the top the spider usually 
 stands, just out of sight, and waits for some- 
 thing to light on the web, when she runs out, 
 and snatches it, and carries it into the tube to 
 eat If any thing too large walks through the 
 web, she turns around, and retreats out of the 
 lower end of the tube, and can seldom be found 
 afterward. In favorable places these webs re- 
 main through the whole season, and are en- 
 larged, as the spider grows, by additions on the 
 outer edges, and are supported by threads run- 
 ning up into the neighboring plants. Similar 
 webs are made by several house-spiders, and 
 are enlarged, if let alone, till they are a foot or 
 two feet wide, and remain ti i they coUect 
 dirt enough to tear them down by its weight. 
 
 Nearly all spiders that make cobwebs li'.e 
 under them, back downward ; and many are so 
 formed, that they can hardly walk right side up. 
 The spiders of the genus Linyphia make a 
 flat or cur\-ed sheet of web, supported by 
 threads above and below ; the spider standing, 
 usually, underneath in some comer, out of 
 
TAe Stmcture and MiMts of Spiders, 57 
 
 sight Ltttfpkia Mannorata makes a dome- 
 shaped web. Fig. 25, supported by threads that 
 extend up into the bushes two or three feet 
 
 The spider stands under the middle of the 
 dom^ where it draws in a small cirde of web 
 with its feet The upper threads of the web in- 
 
58 The Structure and Habits of Spiders. 
 
 terfere with the wings of small insects fljing 
 between them, and they fall down to the dome 
 below, where they are seized, and pulled 
 through the nearest hole. Linyphia communis 
 makes a double web. Fig. 26. The spider 
 stands under the upper sheet, which cur\'es a 
 little downward. WTiat the use of the lower 
 web is, is not easily seen. Either of these 
 spiders, when frightened, leaps out of the web 
 to the ground ; but Linyphia communis must 
 go to the edge before she can clear herself, 
 and sij is easily caught in her own web. 
 
 A little spider, Argyrodes, belonging to the 
 same family, lives among the upper threads of 
 webs of this kind, without being troubled by 
 the owner. It resembles in size and color the 
 scales of pine-buds that often fall in the web, 
 and may easily be mistaken for them. It 
 probably spins a fev.- threads of its own among 
 the borrowed ones, and does, at times, make a 
 separate web of its own. 
 
 The webs of Tlieridion usually have at some 
 part a tent, or at least a thicker portion, under 
 which the spider stands ; and from this run 
 irregularly simple threads, crossing each other 
 
The Structun and Hidnts of Spiders. 59 
 
 in all directions, and held in place by threads 
 above and below. Such irregular webs are 
 
 {%.*&. 
 
 made often in houses by Theridiou vuigan, 
 Hentz. in comers of rooms, under furniture 
 
Gz Tlie Structure and Habits of Spiders. 
 
 and in ceUar-stainvays. The same spider spins 
 occasionally out of doors on fences, but never 
 on plants. When it has caught an insect, and 
 tied it up, it hoists it up into the web, some- 
 times a considerable distance. 
 
 They do this by fastening to it threads from 
 above, which, as they dr\", contract, and pi::!' it 
 up a little. They keep on bringing down more 
 and more threads, imtil the insect is at last 
 hoisted to the top of the web, where they can 
 suck it without exposing themselves. 
 
 Pliul::i:, the long-legged cellar-spider, makes 
 an irregular web of this kind, and has a curi- 
 ous habit when alarmed. It i'^angs down by its 
 long legs. Fig. 27. and swings its body around 
 in a circle, so fast that it can hardly be seen. 
 Fig. 2 J, a, represents the spider as seen from 
 below ; and the dotted circle shows the path in 
 which it revolves. 
 
 ROCXD WZB5. 
 
 These .veil-known cobwebs are made by the 
 iaxaWy Efeirid(B, Figs, i, 4; and the process of 
 making them by the common spider, from 
 which these figures are drawn, can be easily 
 
The Stnictiirt and Habits of Spiders. 6i 
 
 observed in aiiy garden. They generally choose 
 for their web a window-frame or fence, or some 
 such open wooden structure, where there is a 
 hole or crack in which they can hide in the 
 daytime. 
 
 The spider begins hy spinning a line across 
 where the web is to be, and attaches another 
 to it near the middle. She carries the last line 
 
62 The Structure a?id Habits of Spiders. 
 
 along, holding it off with one of the hind-feet, 
 and makes it fast an inch or two from one end 
 of the first ; then she goes back to the centre. 
 
 FEj. ii. 
 
 attaches another line, which she carries off in 
 another direction, and fastens ; and s j on, until 
 all the rays of the web. Fig. 28, are finished- 
 
Tke StnictuiY ami Hiibits of Sfidrrs. 63 
 
 She stops occasionally at the centre, turns 
 around, and pulls at the threads one after 
 another, and spins here and there short cross- 
 lines to hold them more firmly. She seems, 
 by thus feeling the rays, to decide where to 
 put in the next one, and does it alw'ays in 
 such a way as to keep tight what has been 
 done before. WTien the rays are finished to 
 her satisfaction, the spider begins at tlie cen- 
 tre to spin a spiral line across them, Fig. 2S, 
 rf, .?, «^ ,- the turns of the spiral being as far 
 apart as the spider can conveniently reach. She 
 climbs across from one ray to the next, hold- 
 ing her thread carefully off with one of the 
 hind-feet, till she gets to the right point, and 
 then turns up her abdomen, and touches the 
 ray with her spinnerets, thus fastening the 
 cross-thread to it The figure shows her in 
 this position, WTien this spiral has been car- 
 ried to the outside of the web, the spider begins 
 there another and closer one. Fig. 28, of thread 
 of a different kind, WTiile the first thread 
 was smooth, the latter is covered with a sticky 
 liquid, which soon collects on it in drops, and 
 makes it adhere to any thing that touches it 
 
64 The Structure and Habits cf Spiders. 
 
 After going round a few times, this spiral 
 crosses the one that was spun first, or would, 
 if the spider allowed it to ; but, as she comes 
 to the old spiral, she bites it away, leaving 
 only little rags. Fig. 22, b, attached to the rays, 
 which may be seen in the finished web. By 
 beginning thus at the outside, the spider is 
 able to cover the whole web with adhesive 
 threads, and, without stepping on it, take her 
 usual place in the centre. She Msual'-v is care- 
 ful enough to spin beforehand a thread from 
 the centre to her nest, and sometimes stays 
 there, with one foot on the thread, so as to 
 feel if any thing is caught in the web. When 
 she feels a shake, she runs down to the centre, 
 feels the rays to see where the insect is, and 
 runs out, and seizes it, or ties it up as de- 
 scribed on page 43. We have described the 
 web as consisting of one regular spiral ; but 
 this is seldom the case. It is usually wider 
 on one side than the other, or below than 
 above, as in Fia;. 28, where outside the spirals 
 are several loops going partly round the web. 
 The web of Zilla consists entirely of such 
 loops going three-quarters round the web, and 
 
TAg Structure and Hafiifs of Spiders. 6$ 
 
 returning, lea\-ing a 
 
 segment without 
 
 any 
 
 cross-threads, in which is the line from the 
 centre to the spider's nest. Fig. 29. The spider 
 is shown carrying a fly to its nest attached to 
 
 the spinnerets ; and, if this is its usual habit, 
 the web with an open segment is certainly more* 
 con\-enient than a complete one. 
 
66 The Structure and Habits of Spiders. 
 
 The web of Xephila pbimipes, described by 
 Wilder, consists also of loops running round 
 about quarter of a circle. Fig. 30 ; and in this 
 web the smooth cross-lines which are nrst 
 spun are not removed, but remain after it is 
 finished. Fig. 31 shows part of one side of a 
 web ; the arrows marking the smooth thread, 
 and the direction in which it was spun. 
 
 Argiopt, the large black and yelio'.v autumn 
 spiders, cross the middle of the web i.^'ith a zig- 
 zag band of white si'k. which, as the web is 
 obliquely hung, partly conceals the spider under 
 
The Structure and Habits of Sliders. 67 
 
 it These spiders also spin each side of the 
 web, and two or three inches from it, a screen 
 of irregular threads of unknown use. 
 
 The round-web spiders are said to repair 
 
 
 ^rVi 
 
 v^ 
 
 y^^r/C/x^yyy 
 
 i 
 
 K 
 I, 
 
 ■^^^^^yCX ^ 
 
 w. 
 
 k 
 
 Fig. 3«- 
 
 their webs by tearing out a dirty, tangled piece, 
 and putting a new one in its place. Wilder 
 sa\-s that Xephita flumipes tears off and re- 
 places half the web at one time Epcira vmI- 
 getris often takes away an old web. and puts a 
 new one in the same place, tearing down the 
 old in pieces, and putting in the rays of the 
 new as it goes along. The spider walks on 
 
68 The Strticture and Habits of Spiders. 
 
 the nearest sound thread, and gathers in with 
 her front-feet as much old web as she can tear 
 off, and rolls it up w-ith her palpi and mandibles 
 into a ball, and, when it is tight enough not to 
 stick to the web, drops it As she walks along, 
 gathering up the old web in front, she at the 
 same time spins a new thread behind, and, 
 when she gets to a suitable place, makes it fast 
 as one of the rays of the new web. The com- 
 mon story has it, that the spider eats the old 
 web. She certainly gathers it up in her mouth, 
 and sometimes throws it away at once, but at 
 other times sits and chews it a long time, with 
 apparent pleasure. 
 
 Most of the EpeiridiB are brightly colored, 
 and make no attempt at concealment when in 
 the web. Others have odd shapes and colors, 
 and hang in the web in such positions that 
 they look like any thing but animals. Some 
 species draw up their legs against their triangu- 
 lar abdomens, and look like bits of bark fallen 
 into the web. Others are long and slender, 
 and when at rest, either in the web or out, 
 lay their legs close together before and behind 
 their bodies, so as to look hke straws. Others 
 
The Structure cuid Habits of Spiders. 69 
 
 have oddly shaped abdomens, as Fig. 32, under 
 which the rest of the body is partly concealed. 
 
 Efcira cemdata, a common gray spider, living 
 in the wood, collects pieces of insects and other 
 rubbish, and arranges it in a line up and down, 
 
 Fig. 51. 
 
 across the centre of the web. The spider 
 stands in the centre, and from a short distance 
 can hardly be distinguished from the rubbish. 
 She also hides her cocoons in the web, in the 
 same line of dirt 
 
70 The Striutiire and Habits of Spiders. 
 
 The size of the web is usual!}- proportioned 
 
 to that of the spider; but Epeira displicata, 
 which is quarter of an inch long, makes a web 
 only two or three inches in diameter, on the 
 ends of branches of bushes, where it is shaken 
 about, and sometimes blown to pieces, by the 
 wind. 
 
 As the spider stands in her web, and feels a 
 slight shake, such as would be caused by a sud- 
 den wind, she draws her legs together, pulling 
 the rays tighter, and so making the whole web 
 steady. If, however, the spider is frightened, 
 and has no time to escajie, she tlirows her bodv 
 back and forth as a man does in a swing, and 
 thus shakes the web so rapidlv. that the spider 
 can hardly be seen. The most usual habit, 
 when alarmed, is to drop to the ground, and lie 
 there as if dead. 
 
 L\SE OF spider's silk. 
 
 Various attempts have been made to use the 
 silk of spiders, and chiefly that of the large 
 round-web spiders, for practical purposes, either 
 bv carding the cocoons, or by drawing the 
 thread directly from the spider. The latest 
 
TAtf Structure aufi Habits of Spiders. 71 
 
 experiments and plans for this purpose are 
 those of Professor Wilder in "The Galaxy," vol. 
 viii. He shows how Xe/Ai/tt p/umipes might be 
 raised in large numbers, each spider kept by 
 herself in a wire ring surrounded by water, fed 
 with flies bred for the purpose from old meat, 
 and milked every day of their thread. Each 
 cocoon of this spider contains from five hun- 
 dred to a thousand eggs. The young live 
 together for two or three weeks, spin a web in 
 common, and eat one another, or any small 
 insects that come in their way. Then they 
 begin to scatter, and each builds her own web ; 
 so that from this time they must be kept 
 separate, or tliey would eat one another. Ever)' 
 day or two, each spider should be taken downn, 
 put into a pair of stocks, and the thread pulled 
 out till it stops coming. In this way Wilder 
 thinks an ounce of thread could be got from 
 each spider during the summer. The thread 
 is from a seven-thousandth to a four-thousandth 
 of an inch thick, and much smoother and more 
 brightl}' colored, as well as finer, than that of 
 the silk-worm. Several threads would have to 
 be twisted together to g^t one of manageable 
 
72 The Structure atid Habits of Spiders. 
 
 SUJ&. The principal difficulties are the space 
 needed for keeping each spider by herself, and 
 the amount of labor needed to pro\"ide them 
 with living insects for food, and to draw out 
 the silk, which would make it too expensive to 
 use. 
 
 CURLED WEBS. 
 
 There is a family of spiders called by Black- 
 wall Cinijlonida, see p. 17, which, besides the 
 
 'MWmS^ 
 
 i'ig- 33- 
 
 usual plain thread, make a peculiar kind of 
 their own. They have in front of the spin- 
 nerets. Fig. 33, an additional spinning-organ 
 called the cribellum, a, a. It 15 covered with 
 
Tht StTHCture and Habits of Spidirs. 73 
 
 fine tubes, much finer than those of the spin- 
 nerets, set dose together. 
 
 They also hax'e on the last joint but one of 
 the hind-li^s a comb of stiff hairs, called the 
 calamistrum, Fig. 34. on the upper side. 
 
 WTien they spin their peculiar web, they turn 
 one of the hind-legs across under the spin- 
 nerets, so that the calamistrum is just under 
 the cribellum, and the foot rests on the oppo- 
 site kir. Fig. v>- The hind-legs are then 
 
 moved rapidly back and forth ; so that the cal- 
 amistrum combs out from the spinning-tubes. 
 
74 The Structure and Habits of Spielers. 
 
 and at the same time tangles a band of fine 
 threads, C. This band is laid along, and 
 attached here and there to a plain thread. A, B, 
 so as to make it adhere more readily to an 
 insect that happens to touch it. As one \s:g 
 gets tired, they change, and work with the 
 other. In the webs of these spiders this adhe- 
 
 sive band can be seen with the naked eye, nm- 
 ning about, as in Fig. 36. The webs are usually 
 irregular, and shajjed to fit the place where they 
 are built, but have, in some part, a tube some- 
 what like that of the grass spider. Fig. 24, 
 where the owner hides. Sometimes they are 
 more or less regular in structure, some of the 
 
Tk£ Structure and HaMts of Spiders. 75 
 
 threads being parallel, and crossed by shorter 
 ones at regular intervals. Fig. 37. Others are 
 circular, with a tube in the centre which runs 
 into a crack, and from which radiate irregularly 
 the principal threads of the web. Such webs 
 
 TTTrrrr- 
 
 are sometimes verj' numerous on stone build- 
 ings, and, as the}' collect larice quantities of 
 dust, seriously disfigure them. The webs alone, 
 when clean, would not be noticed. 
 
 THE TK3AX0LE SPIDER. 
 
 Among those spiders that use the calamis- 
 trum is one which makes a web unlike any 
 other. It has been described by Professor 
 W'ilder, in the "" Popular Science ifonthly " for 
 April, 1875. under the name of the "triangle 
 spider." It Uves usually among the dead 
 branches around the lower part of pine and 
 spruce trees, and is colored so like the bark, 
 that when it stands, as it usually does, on the 
 
j6 The Strticture and Habits of Spiders. 
 
 end of a branch, it is easily mistaken for a part 
 of it The web seems to be made in the night 
 Wilder saw them early in the morning ; and I, 
 in the evening, between sunset and dark. A 
 
 rii. 38. 
 
 single thread five or six inches long runs from 
 the spider's roost ; and from its extremity ra- 
 diate four branches, attached tc> various ^.^-igs in 
 the neighborhood. Fig. 38, AE. AF, AG, AH. 
 
TAe StriKtitrf and Habits of Sliders. Tj 
 
 The spider begins to cross them with adhe- 
 sive threads near the end of the upper ray at S'. 
 After listening the end of the thread, she walks 
 along toward the centre, scratching a\\-ay all 
 the time with her calamistrum, till she comes to 
 a place, 5, where she can cross to the next ^a)^ 
 She crosses over, and goes outward toward S", 
 the thread shrinking as she goes, until, when 
 she arrives at S", it is just long enough to reach 
 across to S'. She fastens it by laying it along 
 the ray for a short distance, and goes inward 
 again till she reaches 7, where she crosses to 
 the next ray ; and so on till the thread is fin- 
 ished to S'". Here she stops spinning, and 
 goes up the lower ray to A, and along the 
 upper one to 4, where she starts another cross- 
 thread. This goes on till the whole web is 
 filled, as in Fig. 39, nearly to the centre. 
 
 WTien the web is finished, the spider goes up 
 the thread A 0, to within an inch or so of the 
 twig to which it is fastened ; turns round, and 
 takes hold of the thread with her front-feet ; 
 then pulls herself backward with her hind4eet 
 up to the twig. She thus tightens the web, and 
 draws up a loop of thread between her front 
 and hind feet. Fig. 39, lower lig-ure. 
 
78 TJte Structure and Habits of Spiders. 
 
 The net is now set for use, and she stands 
 holding it till something touches it ; then she 
 lets go with her hind-legs, and the net springs 
 forward, bringing more threads into contact 
 
 with the insect, and sliding the spider along the 
 line toward A. If she thinks it worth while, 
 she draws up another loop, and snaps the web 
 again. When she is satisfied that the insect is 
 
Th€ Structure emd Habits of Sj'iJirs. 79 
 
 caught, she gathers up part of the web till she 
 comes to him, co\?ers him with silk, and carries 
 him up to her roost 
 
 There are other spiders of this group that 
 make round webs. Just like those of the 
 Epnrid«, Fig. 2S, except in the adhesix-e threads 
 being spun with the calamistrum. 
 
 FLYIXG SPIDERS. 
 
 Often, in summer, the bushes are cox^red 
 with threads, attached by one end, blowing out 
 in the wind; and bits of cobweb are blowing 
 about, with occasionally a spider attached- To 
 account for such threads, cxuious theories have 
 been thought of; among others, that spiders 
 are able to force the thread from their spin- 
 nerets, like water from a sjTringe, in any direc- 
 tion they choose 
 
 If a spider be put on a stick surrounded by 
 water, she manages, in course of time, to get a 
 thread to some object beyond, and to escape by 
 it To find out how this is done, Mr. Blackwall 
 tried some experiments. He put spiders on 
 sticks in vessels of water, and they ran up and 
 down, unable to escape as long as the air in the 
 
8o The Structure and Habits of Spiders. 
 
 room was still. But, if a draught of air passed 
 the spider, she turned her head toward it, and 
 opened her spinnerets in the opposite direction. 
 If the draught continued, a thread was drawn 
 out by it, which at length caught upon some- 
 thing, when the spider drew it tight, and escaped 
 on it. If the air was kept still, or the spider 
 covered with a glass, she remained on the stick 
 tUl taken off. 
 
 These experiments have been repeated, and 
 show that the spider does not shoot or throw 
 the web in any way, but takes advantage of 
 currents of air, and allows threads to be blown 
 out to a considerable distance. 
 
 There is a still more cxurious use of this 
 method of spinning threads ; that is, in flying. 
 Small spiders, especially on fine days in the 
 autumn, get up on the tops of bushes and 
 fences, each apparently anxious to get as high 
 as possible, and there raise themselves up on 
 tiptoe, and turn their bodies up, as in Fig. 40, 
 with their heads toward the wind, and spin- 
 nerets open. A thread soon blows out from 
 the spinnerets, and, if the current of air con- 
 tinues, spins out to a length of two or three 
 
The Structure and Habits of Spiders. 8i 
 
 jrards, and then ofFers enough resistance to the 
 wind to carry the spider away with it up into 
 the air. As soon as she is clear, the spider 
 turns around, and grasps the thread with her 
 feet, and seems to be very comfortable and 
 
 Fig. ■to- 
 contented till she strikes against something. 
 Sometimes they rise rapidly, and are soon out 
 of sight ; at other times blow along just above 
 the ground. 
 
 This habit is not confined to any particular 
 kinds of spiders, but is practised by many small 
 
82 The Structure and Habits of Spiders. 
 
 species of Erigotu, and by the young of many 
 spiders of all families, that, when adult, would 
 be too large for it. The majority of the spiders 
 flying in autumn are the young of several 
 species of Lycosa, that seem to spend the 
 greater part of October and Xovember txying- 
 to get as far above ground as possible. The 
 best places to watch them are garden-fences in 
 cities, where they often swarm, and can be more 
 distinctly seen than on bushes. Large num- 
 bers can always be seen, for example, on the 
 fences around the Common in Boston, e .erv- 
 fine day in autumn, until there has been a long 
 period of cold weather. Other species fly in 
 the early part of summer. 
 
 Mr. Blackwall obsen.ed in Manchester, Eng., 
 Oct I, 1826, a calm sunny day. that, just becore 
 noon, the fields and hedges ^ere covered over 
 with cobwebs. .So thick were they, that, in 
 crossing a small pasture, his feet were covered 
 with them. They had e\"idently been made in 
 a ver}- short time, as early in the morning they 
 were not conspicuous enough to attract his 
 attention, and the day before could not have 
 existed at all, as a high wind blew all day. At 
 
The Structure and Habits of Spiders. 83 
 
 the same time large rags of web were floating 
 about in the air, one measviring five feet long, 
 and several inches wide. These appeared to be 
 not formed in the air, but torn from grass and 
 bushes, where they were produced by the 
 tangling of many threads which had been spun 
 separately. They kept rising all the fore- 
 noon, and in the afternoon came down again. 
 Not one in twenty had a spider on it Similar 
 large webs were obser\ed by Lincecum in 
 Texas, and supposed by him to be balloons spun 
 purposely by the spiders. 
 
 Mr. Darwin, in the journal of the voyage of 
 "The Beagle," saj-s, that when anchored in the 
 River Plata, sixty miles from shore, he has seen 
 the rigging covered with cobwebs, and the air 
 full of pieces of web floating about The 
 spiders, however, when they struck the ship, 
 were always hanging from single threads, and 
 never to the floating webs. 
 
 A recent account of the signs of weather- 
 changes near the southern coast of the United 
 States mentions as one of them cobwebs in 
 the rigging. 
 
 It is still unexplained how the thread starts 
 
84 TJu Strticture and Habits of Spiders. 
 
 from the spinnerets. It has been often as- 
 serted that the spider fastens the thread by the 
 end, and allows a loop to blow out in the wind ; 
 but, in most cases, this is certainly not done, 
 only one thread being \-isible. Sometimes, 
 while a thread is blown from the hinder spin- 
 nerets, another from the front spinnerets is 
 
 kept fast to the ground, Fii'. 41 ; so that, when 
 the spider blows awav, it draws out a thread 
 behind it entirely independent of the one from 
 which it hangs. 
 
 Sometimes, instead of a single thread, several 
 are blown out at once, like a long brush, as in 
 
The Simcttm and Habits of Spiders. 8$ 
 
 Fig. 42, which represents, four times enlarged, 
 an unusually large spider just before blowing 
 o£E a fence. 
 
 Fig. 4S. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 GROWTH OF SPIDERS. 
 
 Persons unfamiliar with spiders find it hard 
 to tell young from old, and male from female. 
 This is caused, in part, by the great differences 
 between different ages and sexes of the same 
 spider, on account of which they are supposed 
 to belong to distinct species. 
 
 The adult males and females are easily distin- 
 guished from each other, and from the yoimg, 
 by the complete development of organs peculiar 
 to each sex, which will be described further on. 
 
 The males are usually smaller than the 
 females, and have, in proportion to their size, 
 smaller abdomens and longer legs. They are 
 usually darker colored, esp>ecially on the head 
 and front part of the body; and markings which 
 
 86 
 
The Stnuture and HeAits of Spiders. 87 
 are distinct in the female nm toscether and 
 
 ''o'- 
 
 Kg-*3- 
 
 become darker in the male. In most species 
 these differences are not great ; but in some no 
 
88 Tlie Structure and Habits of Spiders. 
 
 one would ever suppose, without other evidence, 
 that the males and females had any relation- 
 ship to each other. The most extreme cases of 
 this kind are Argiope and Nephila, where the 
 male is about a tenth as large as the female. 
 Fig. 43 represents male and female of Nephila 
 plumipes described by Wilder. 
 
 
 The female of one of the common crab spi- 
 ders is white as milk, with a crimson stripe on 
 each side of the abdomen ; while the male is a 
 little brown-and-yellow spider, v.ith dark mark- 
 ings of a pattern common in the family to 
 which it belongs. 
 
 In the genus Erigoiie, which includes the 
 smallest known spiders, the males often have 
 
The Structure and Habits of Spiders. 89 
 
 curious humps and homs on their heads. 
 Fig. 44, The most extreme example is Fig. 
 45, where the eyes are carried up on the end of 
 the horn. The females of all 
 these species have plain round 
 heads ; and what use the humps 
 are to the males nobody knows. 
 The peculiar organs by which 
 
 *^ " •' Fig. «. 
 
 the adult males and females can 
 always be distinguished are, in the males, the 
 palpal organs, on the ends of the palpi ; and, 
 in the females, the epigynum, Fig. i. 
 
 PALPAL ORGANS. 
 
 As the male spider gets nearly full grown, 
 the terminal joints of the palpi become swollen. 
 
 F%. 40. 
 
 and, after the last moult, the palpal oi^ans are 
 laicovered. 
 
90 The Structure and Habits of Spiders. 
 
 The simplest form of palpal organ is found 
 in the large Mygalida, Fig. 6. It consists of 
 a hard bulb. Fig. 46, drawn out to a point, in 
 which is a small hole leading to a sac within. 
 
 F'«. 47- 
 
 In most spiders the terminal joint is flat- 
 tened, and has a hollow on the mider side, in 
 which the palpal organ is partly concealed. 
 The bulb is flattened to fit this hollow ; and the 
 point of it is prolonged into a distinct tube of 
 various shapes, furnished with numerous spines 
 
The Structure and Httbits of Spiders. 91 
 
 and appendages. Fig. 47 is the palpal organ of 
 Eptira vuigaris flattened out, and made trans- 
 parent The internal sac is shown at a; and 
 the tube from it b runs round the inside of 
 the bulb, and ends at the opening c. The out- 
 side of the organ has various horns and append- 
 ages. Fig. 48 is the palpus of another spider. 
 
 where the outer tube is so long, that it is coiled 
 np ox-er the basal part of the bulb ; and the end 
 rests on a strong spine at one side of the palpus. 
 Not only the terminal joints of the palpi, but 
 also the next, and sometimes next two joints, 
 are modified in shape, with the development of 
 
92 TJie Structure and Habits of Spiders. 
 
 the palpal organ. Fig. 48. The shape of these 
 organs is very constant in the same species of 
 spider, and thus becomes one of the most con- 
 venient marks of such a group. 
 
 THE EPIGYXUM. 
 
 WTien the female spider is nearly full grown, 
 there appears a hard, swollen place just in front 
 of the opening of the ovaries, Fig. i ; and, after 
 the last moult, the epig^Tium is imcovered at 
 
 this place. The epig}-num, Fig. 49, consists of 
 two spermathecje, E, which connect by two 
 little tubes, H, H, with the oviduct near its 
 mouth, and by two larger tubes, D, with the 
 outside of the spider. The mouths of these 
 larger tubes are often surroimded by various 
 
The Structure and Habits of Spiders. 93 
 
 hard sqppendages to support and guide the pal- 
 pal organs when the latter are thrust into them. 
 These parts, like the palpal organs, furnish con- 
 venient marks for distinguishing species. The 
 spermathecse, E, \'ary hut little in shape in 
 different spiders ; but the tubes H and D are 
 often lengthened, and twisted into shapes near- 
 ly as complicated as those of the palpal organs. 
 
 Fig. SO is the epigyniun of a small Theridiom., 
 where the arrangement of parts can be very 
 distinctly seen. E, E, are the spermathecae ; 
 H, H. the tubes opening into the oviduct ; and 
 D, D, the tubes opening outward. Fig. 51 is 
 the epigynum of another closdj^ allied species, 
 where the tubes D, D, are \"er}' much elongated 
 and twisted up, corresponding to the long dis- 
 
94 The Structure and Habits of Spiders. 
 
 charge-tube of the palpal organ of the male of 
 the same spider, Fig. 48. 
 
 F«- SI- 
 
 USE OF THE PAI-PAi ORGANS AXD EPIGYXUiL 
 
 When the reproductive ceUs of the male 
 
 1 
 
 spider are mature, he discharges the liquid con- 
 taining them on a little web spun for the pur- 
 pose ; dips his palpal organs into it. and in a 
 few moments takes up the whole, it is suj>- 
 posed, into the little sacs. Figs. 47, 48, inside 
 the bulb ; then he seeks the female, and inserts 
 the palpal organs into her epigynum. The soft 
 part at the base of the organ swells up, and 
 presses in the discharge-tube, and probably 
 forces out the contents of the bulb into the 
 spermathecae, E, E, from which it escapes, in 
 
T&£ Strucfure and Habits of Spiders. 95 
 
 course of time, by the tubes, H, H, into the o\A- 
 duct, and fertilizes the eggs about the time they 
 are laid. 
 
 One palpal organ is usually inserted at a 
 time, and, after a while, taken out, and replaced 
 by the other ; this change being repeated many 
 times by the same spider. Among the Lycosi' 
 dee. Fig. lo^ the male leaps on the back of 
 the female, and is carried about by her, Fig. 
 
 52. He reaches down at the side of her abdo- 
 men, and inserts his palpi in the epigynum 
 underneath. In Linypkia and Tkeiidian the 
 male and female live peaceably together for a 
 long time in the same web. The male reaches 
 firom in front under the female. Fig. 53, and 
 inserts his palpal organs, one after the other, 
 for hours, together. In Agaiena the male is 
 tiie stronger (rf the two sexes. He takes the 
 
96 The Structure and Habits of Spiders. 
 female in his mandibles, and lays her on one 
 
 Fig. 53- 
 
 side, Fig. 54, and inserts one of his palpi 
 After a time, he rises on tiptoe, turns her 
 
 Fig. =4. 
 
 around and over, so that she lies on the other 
 side, with her head in the opposite direction, 
 
The Structure and Habits of Spiders. 97 
 
 and inserts the other palpus. 
 The female lies as though 
 dead In NepMla and Argi- 
 ope, where the male is verj- 
 small, he stands on the upper 
 edge of the web while the 
 female is in her usual po- 
 sition in the centre. After 
 feeling the web with his feet 
 for some time, he runs down 
 to the centre so lightly as not 
 to disturb the female, and 
 climbs about over her body 
 for some minutes, in an ap- 
 parently aimless way. She 
 takes no notice of him at 
 first ; but at length, especial- 
 ly if he approach the under 
 side of her abdomen, she 
 turns, and snaps at him with 
 her jaws. He is usually 
 nimble enough to dodge be- 
 tween her legs, and drop out 
 of the web, and, after a while, 
 climbs up to the top, and 
 
 %t 
 
 Fig. 53. 
 
98 The Structure and Habits of Spiders. 
 
 begins over again. In these encounters the 
 males are often injxired ; they frequently lose 
 some of their legs: and I have seen one, that 
 had only four out of his eight left, still standing 
 up to his work. 
 
 At length the male succeeds in getting under 
 the female's abdomen, and inserting his palpi 
 into the epigv-num. Fig. 55 shows the female 
 hanging in the web, with the male at a, with 
 his legs grasped around her abdomen. 
 
 The habits of these spiders furnish the 
 grounds for the popular ston.', that female spi- 
 ders regularly eat the males. Xo doubt it 
 occasionally happens, where the female is the 
 lara;er of the two ; but in many species they 
 live together for some time in the same web, 
 or in a nest spun for the purpose ; in some 
 cases, before the female has reached the adult 
 state. 
 
 LAYIXG EGGS. 
 
 When the eggs are mature, the female pro- 
 ceeds, like the male, to make a little web, and 
 lays the e^^gs on it Then she covers them 
 o\ er with silk, forming a cocoon, in which the 
 
TIu Structure and I/adits of Spiders. 99 
 
 yovmg remain till some time after they are 
 hatched. The laying of the eggs is seldom 
 seen ; for the spider does it in the night, or 
 in retired places; and often, in confinement, 
 refuses to lay at all. 
 
 Fig- ^- 
 
 The female Drassus, Fig. 56, spins a little 
 web A across her nest, and drops the eggs E 
 on it, as in the figure. They are soft, and 
 mixed with liquid, and are discharged in one 
 or two drops, like jelly. They quickly soak up 
 the liquid, and become drj- on the surface, 
 sometimes adhering slightly together. 
 
 After the eggs are laid, the spider covers 
 them with silk, drawing the threads over them 
 from one side to the other, and fastening them 
 to the edges of the web below. \\Tien the 
 covering is complete, she bites off the threads 
 
lOO Tlie Structure and Habits of Spiders. 
 
 that hold the cocoon to the nest, and finishes 
 off the edges with her jaws. 
 
 The Lycosidce make their cocoons in the 
 same way, but rounder, and showing only 
 slightly the seam where the upper part was 
 attached to the lower. 
 
 Fig. :: 
 
 The Lycosas earn,- their cocoons about, 
 attached to the spinnerets, as in Fig. 57, 
 bumping them over the stones without injury 
 to the young inside. 
 
 Many spiders make their cocoons against a 
 flat surface, where they remain attached by one 
 side. Atttts tnystaceus spins, before laying, a 
 thick nest of white silk on the under side of a 
 stone. In this she thickens a circular patch on 
 the upper side, next the stone, and discharges 
 her eggs upward against it. Fig. 58. They 
 adhere, and are covered with white sUk. I 
 once had a spider of this species lay her eggs. 
 
The St nurture and Habits of Spiders. loi 
 
 in confinement, in a nest the under side of 
 which had been cut away. Instead of com- 
 pleting the cocoon properly, she ate the eggs 
 
 Fig. jS. 
 
 immediately after laying. Epcira strix spins, 
 before laying, a bunch of loose silk, Fig. 59. 
 She touches her spinnerets, as in the figure on 
 
 J^3S^ 
 
 
 Fig- 59- 
 
 the left, draws them away a short distance, at 
 the same time pressing upward with the hind- 
 feet, as in the figure on the right ; then moves 
 
I02 Tlte Structure and Habits of Spiders. 
 
 the abdomen a little sidewise, and attaches the 
 band of threads so as to form a loop. She 
 keeps making these loops, turning round, at the 
 same time, so as to form a rounded bunch of 
 them, into the middle of which she afterwards 
 lays the eggs, as in Fig. 60. The ^;gs, which 
 are like a drop of jelly, are held up by the loose 
 threads till the spider has time to spin under 
 
 F%. 60. 
 
 them a covering of stronger silk. Epeira 
 vulgaris makes a similar cocoon upward, down- 
 ward, or sidewise, as may be most convenient. 
 
 Most of the TheridiidiB make cocoons of 
 loose silk, held up in the web by numerous 
 threads. Some hang the cocoon by a stem. 
 Fig. 61. 
 
 The large species of Argiope makes a big 
 
Tie StTHCturc am/ ffa^fs of S/>ii>Vrs. 103 
 
 pear-shaped cocoon hanging in grass or bushes. 
 Fig, 62. A stem of loose brown silk is first 
 made, and under this the eggs attached (at any 
 rate this had been done in one which had been 
 
 Rg-fii. 
 
 Ks- «». 
 
 abandoned imfinished) : then a cup-shaped 
 piece is made imder the eggs; the bunch of 
 loose silk is spun OA-er all, and finally the paper- 
 like shell. 
 
 ESCAPE FROM THE COCOON. 
 
 These cocoons of Ar^efie are made late in 
 the summer, and the young stay in them tlD 
 the next season. Out of six hundred cocoons 
 
104 The Structure and Habits cf Spiders. 
 
 collected by Wilder in the spring, less than a 
 quarter were entire, the rest being pierced, or 
 tom in some way, by birds or insects ; so that 
 the spiders were saved the trouble of gnawing 
 their way out, as they can if obliged to. 
 
 I once noticed a small Theridion gnawing at 
 its soft cocoon, and found that one side had 
 been made in this way much thinner than the 
 rest of the cocoon. I put her, with the cocoon, 
 in a bottle where I could watch her ; and she 
 soon commenced biting again, and kept it up 
 the rest of the day. The following night the 
 young came out. 
 
 Many spiders remain by their cocoons till 
 the young come out ; but other species, making 
 similar ones, go away, or die^ and the young get 
 out themselves when they are old enough. 
 
 The young of Micaria cut a smooth round 
 hole in their paper-like cocoon, just large 
 enough for them to come out one by one. 
 
 PARASITES. 
 
 The eggs in the cocoon are very liable to be 
 eaten by parasitic insects. Certain wingless 
 Hytnenoptera are always hunting around in the 
 
The Structure and HeUrits of Spiders. 105 
 
 neighborhood of spiders' nests, and may some- 
 times be seen trying to stick their ovipositor 
 through a cocoon. If they succeed, their eggs 
 hatch before the spiders, and eat the latter up. 
 Other parasites lay eggs on the backs of young 
 spiders, and the larva lives attached to the out- 
 side till it gets nearly as large as the spider 
 iteelf. 
 
 GROWTH IX THE EGG. 
 
 The ^g of a spider, like that of any other 
 animal, is a cell which separates from the body 
 of the female, and afterwards unites w-ith one 
 or more cells which have separated from the 
 body of the male. This fertilization of the 
 e^s probably takes place when they have 
 reached their full size, and are about to be laid. 
 
 After the ^gs are laid and hardened, it is 
 \'ery easy to watch their development They 
 grow just as w^ anywhere else as in the 
 cocoon, and, in order to see through the shell, 
 it is only necessary to cover the egg to be 
 examined, with oil, alcohol, or any liquid that 
 will wet it 
 
 Just after it is laid, the egg looks like Fig. 
 63, a; or, if the ^g is more opaque, only the 
 
io6 The Structure and Habits of Spiders. 
 
 ends of the lobes can be seen like irr^^ular 
 lumps. The first sign of growth is the divis- 
 ion into two. Fig. 63, b. These divide into 
 
 Kg. 63. 
 
 four, into eight, and so on. Fig. 63, c, d. At 
 first the divisions are all alike ; but at length 
 they divide into two kinds, — small ones, with a 
 
Tke Stnu'ture ami Halfits of Spiders, 107 
 
 dark spot in the middle, which cover the out- 
 side of the egg ; and larger ones that occupy the 
 inside. Fig. 63, <-, show^ an egg at this stage, 
 where the large inner cells show through the 
 layer of outer ones. Fig. 63, / is a section of 
 the same egg. The stages shown in * and c 
 are seldom clearly seen, because the di\-isions 
 are crowded together and too opaque ; but d and 
 r can be watched in any common spider's eggs. 
 The rate of growth x'aries according to circum- 
 stances. Some eggs laid in autumn develop 
 slowly all winter, while others laid in summer 
 are ready to hatch in a fortnight 
 
 In the e^s of the long-legged cellar spider, 
 laid in June, in about four or five days the young 
 spider becomes lengthened out into a sort of 
 barrel shape ; and six whitish rings run half way 
 round it, on each of which appears soon after a 
 pair of little knobs, one each side. Fig 64. a. 
 These are the six s^ments of the thorax, and 
 the six pairs of limbs ; and their gradual growth 
 is shown in Fig. 64, h, c,d. In a there is no sign 
 of a head or abdomen, except the more opaque 
 ends of the embryo; but shortly after there 
 appears an opaque knob at one end. Fig. 64, 6, 
 
io8 
 J. 
 
 The Structure and Habits of Spiders. 
 
 under which is a pair of little knobs, snch as ap- 
 pearol at first on the thoracic segments; then 
 appear two pairs, then three, and so on, till there 
 are six pairs, which mark the slk segments of 
 the abdomen. Up to this tim^ the embryo has 
 
 Ffe.64. 
 
 been rolled up with the under side ontward ; but 
 now it begins to turn, and in a day or two has 
 its back outward. Fig. 64, c. The constriction 
 between the thorax and abdomen b^ins about 
 this time ; and in a few days more the spider is 
 ready to hatch. Fig. 64, d. 
 
Tie Siruct7tre emd HaHts cf Spiders. 109 
 
 YOUNG SPIDERS. 
 
 The hatching occupies a day or two. The 
 shell, or rather skin, cracks along the lines be- 
 tween the legs, and comes off in rags ; and the 
 spider slowly stretches itself, and creeps about 
 It is now pale and soft, and without any hairs 
 
 or spines, and only small claws on its feet ; but, 
 in a few days, it gets rid of another skin, and 
 now begins to look like a spider. The ejes 
 become darker colored; marks on the thorax 
 become more distinct, and a dark stripe sqipears 
 across the edge of each segment of the abdo- 
 men. The hairs are long, and few in number. 
 
no The Structure and Habits of Spiders. 
 
 and arranged in rows across the abdomen and 
 along the middle of the thorax, Fig. 65. Before 
 the next moult, they usually leave the cocoon, 
 and for a time live together in a web spun in 
 common. A brood of young Epeira may often 
 be seen looking like a ball of wool in the top of 
 a bush, while below them, connected by threads 
 to their roost, are the skins left at their second 
 moult, and farther down, also connected by 
 threads, the cocoon with the first skins. 
 
 Dohmedes spins a nest in which the young 
 live for a while after hatching. 
 
 The young of the running spiders, Lycosidee, 
 when they come out of the cocoon get on their 
 mother's back, and are carried round by her for 
 some time. 
 
 Where large broods of young spiders live 
 together, they soon begin to eat one another; 
 and, if kept in confinement, one or two out of a 
 cocoon fuU, may be raised without any other 
 food. 
 
 Wilder noticed this in Nephila plumipes, and 
 believes it is the natural habit of young spiders, 
 and not the result of confinement 
 
 As spiders grow larger, they have to moult 
 
The Structure and Hetbits of Spiders. 1 1 1 
 
 from time to time. This process is shown 
 by Wilder in Figs. 66, 67; and I have seen 
 the same operation in Argiope. The spider 
 
 F%.«& 
 
 I%-6y. 
 
 hangs herself by a thread firom the spinnerets 
 to the centre of the web. The skin cracks 
 around the thorax, just over the first joints of 
 the legs ; and the top part fells forward, being 
 
1 12 The Structure and Habits tf Riders. 
 
 held only at the front edg& The skin of the 
 abdomen breaks irregularly along the sides and 
 back, and shrinks together in a bunch. The 
 spider now hangs by a short thread from the 
 spinnerets, and works to free her legs from the 
 old skin. Fig. OS. .This takes about c^ssaxXsx 
 of an hour ; and then she drops down, hanging 
 by her spinnerets like a wet rag. Fig. 6^. 
 
 If struck while in this condition, she can do 
 nothing, not even draw her l^s away. After 
 ten or fifteen minutes, the l^;s b^n to 
 strengthen; and she draws them gradually up 
 toward her, works them up and down a few 
 times, and is soon able to get into the web 
 again. 
 
 Blackwall observed nine moults in Tegenaria 
 civilis, a spider that lives several years. Many 
 species, and among them some of the largest^ 
 live only one year, hatching in the winter, 
 leaving the cocoon in early summer, and laying 
 eggs and dying in autumn. Other species 
 seem to require two years for their growth; 
 hatching in summer, passing their first winter 
 half grown, growing up the next summer, but 
 laying no eggs till the second spring. Some 
 
Tkf Structure and Habits of Spiders. 113 
 
 species are found adult at all seasons, and may 
 live several years. 
 
 After spiders have passed their second moult, 
 they usually li\'e in the same places, and follow 
 the same habits, as the adults. 
 
 The running spiders live usually on the 
 ground, often near water, but some kinds in the 
 hottest and dryest places. A few species live 
 near water, and are accustomed to run about 
 on its surface, without becoming wet The 
 TAeridiidte almost all live in the shade, and 
 alwaj's upside down in their webs. Some 
 species live always in caves; and one in 
 the deepest part of the Mammoth Cave has no 
 eyes. Some spiders live only on high moun- 
 tains, never app>earing below the tree line. 
 Some species seem to prefer certain kinds of 
 plants. The horizontal branches of spruces, 
 for instance, are particularly convenient for the 
 webs of some species of TheridiaH. The 
 water-spider, that builds its nest and lives on 
 water-plants, has been already mentioned, and 
 also the Argynh/rs, that makes ite home in 
 the webs of other spiders. During winter 
 immense numbers of spiders that ha\'e spent 
 
114 T~f^ Structure and Habits of Spiders. 
 
 the summer under stones, in webs, and on 
 plants, hide away among fallen leaves, and 
 there live through the coldest and wettest 
 weather, ready to move on the first warm day. 
 During a thaw they often come out on the 
 snow in great numbers. 
 
 Several house spiders have probably been 
 imported, like rats, and are foimd all over the 
 world ; while other most common species never 
 spread beyond the countries where they are 
 most abundant. 
 
BOOKS ABOUT SPIDERS. 
 
 Ci-ASSiFic,\TiON. — Thordl's "Genera of European 
 Si»ders,'' in - Acta R^a Societatis Scientiarum Upsa- 
 lensis," 1S69, and Thorell's " SynonjTnes of £un>pean 
 Spideis,'" contain a complete history of the classification 
 of the spiders of Xorthem Europe, with references to all 
 4e descriptions of genera and species, and remarks on 
 4e use of names and groups by diflterent authors. The 
 great resemblance between the European and Xorth- 
 American spider faun» make these the most useful 
 books for American students- Simon's - Arachnides de 
 France." a work not yet completed, describes all the 
 spiders in France, and refers to descriptions of the 
 other European species. It cont^ns tables by which 
 the ^nus and species to xrhich any spider belongs can 
 be found by the use of a few prtHninent characters. 
 
 Anatomy. — Sidiold's " Anatomy of the Invertebrata ' 
 contains a good general accoimt Bertkau describes, in 
 -*Traschel's Archivfur Naturgeschichte," Ae mandibles 
 in iSra the respiratory^jrgans in 1S72, and the sexual- 
 organs in i $75. OefBnger desoibes the spinning-gfauids 
 in " Arvhiv fiir Microscopisdie Anatomic," i86a 
 
 Embryology. — OaparMe, Utrecht, 1862, and Bat 
 Uani, in -.\nnales des Sciences Katurefles," 1872, de- 
 scribe the growdi of die ^g from s^mentation to 
 
ii6 Books about Spielers. 
 
 hatching. H. Ladwig, in ''Zeiischtjh. for Wissenstiiaft- 
 liche Zoologie," 1876, gives an accoimt oi die segpieatsr 
 tioB in eggs of Philodromns. 
 
 Habits. — Walckenaer's " Hisfoire NatmeUe des Ap- 
 teres" goes over the whole sabjecf. BlackwaD, in 
 " Researches in Zoology" 1834, describes the web- 
 making of Epeiia, and the fljing habits o£ sfrideis. 
 Blackwall also writes on habits in "The Spiders of 
 Great Briton and Ireland," pnblished by the Ray 
 Society, 1864, and in varioos papers in "Transactions 
 ot the linnsan Society," 1833 to 1841. Meuge's 
 Lebensweise der Arachniden in "Schriften der Natnr- 
 forchenden Gesellschaft in Danzig" 1843, goes over 
 the whole subject, and is particolarlj useful on the sex- 
 nal habits. The same author continues the subject in 
 " Preussische Spinnen," published by the same sodety, 
 beginning in 1866, and not yet finished. The habits of 
 the water-^ider are described by Mr. Bell in "Jtmmal 
 of the Ijnnsan Society," 1857. The tiap-door spiders 
 and their habits are described by J. T. Moggridge in 
 " Harvesting Ants and Trap-door Spiders," published by 
 L. Reeve & Co., London, 1873, and Supplement. 1874. 
 Prot B. G. Wilder has published several papers on the 
 habits of American spiders, the most useful of which 
 are the following : on NephOa plumipes from South Car- 
 olina, "Proceedings of the Boston Socie^ of Natural 
 History," 1865: Practical Use of Spider's Silk in "The 
 Galaxy," July, 1869 : Habits of Epeira riparia. Moulting 
 of Nephila plumipes. and Nests of Epeira, Nephila, and 
 Hyptiotes, in " Proceedings of American Association for 
 Advancement of Science," 1873: the Trian^e Spider in 
 "Popular Science Monthly," 1875. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abdorau, rs, 16. 
 
 Aduh duoactefs of ^ados, S7, 
 
 A^Jeoa, web of, 35. 
 
 A^aksadUe, aS. 
 
 Age of sfHilns, xis, 
 
 Aiissstcs, ax. 
 
 Air-4ube£» xa. 
 
 Anyp)K3i3^ flying of» 84. 
 
 Ai^^ope, wdb of, 67. 
 
 Aigyioiies, ^. 
 
 ARidBi,9S. ' 
 
 Attus, &fms of, 83. 
 
 Benlaai, esqaniEBats on potson of 
 
 spid«s,34' 
 Bbtckrirall, age of ^adas, ira; er- 
 
 pmaaents on pusou, ^; on blcnr- 
 
 in^ out of thv&ads. So; oo fhpxog 
 
 spiders,^ 
 BUx»d spidets, xi> 
 Bkwii^ of thrcM^ So. 
 BxeaduBg-oss^ans^ 16, sa. 
 
 Ca£fonua tR^M^oor ^Mda*. 4$. 
 Care of yoia^, 104. 
 Cave ^^ders, 1x3. 
 Omi^itiwSie, 7a. 
 GbssaAcatnn of spidas, xx, 93, 
 
 0»ES»X4. 
 
 Oobwvts, 54- 
 
 Ooktus of spiders, xy, 19. 
 CoMxakMntof ^idevs, |o^ 
 
 O^MilatioD, 94. 
 
 Oab s^adcfs, 99, 
 
 Oflidhun, 7a, 
 
 Oixkid vd^ 7a. 
 
 Daivin on %iQg ^idas, S3. 
 
 Dicryna. i^nuuDg of, 73; Rgabr 
 
 vdksor,74. 
 Dismbuoon of ^ikdtt^ XX3. 
 DoIcsgJklD, espenmenis on poisoQ of 
 
 S|»dMS,34. 
 
 Dolj»3Aedefs nescfitfyoong, 33. 
 
 Dorsal groo>^ 17. 
 
 Dragsadtee, 36. 
 
 E^s, Living, 98; growth of, 105. 
 
 £mbxjo spidas, 103. 
 
 £^ieind«,3i. 
 
 Ejp^rnom, 9a, 
 
 Ei^ooe, b^ds of male, SS.. 
 
 Eyes. x?. 
 
 Foet,x4. 
 
 Flpag of spikes, ^ 
 
 Food of trsp-door ^idos, sex 
 
 Gnmtli of spidus, 36. 
 
 HalMcais of spideis, XX3. 
 
 HateJuz^, 107. 
 
 Heads of iirale spideis, SS. 
 
 Hean. n. 
 
 Homing ca^cuied insects, 6ow 
 
 Hofcs,44-^ 
 
 House ^tdos, 1x4. 
 
 Inxesdne, ax. 
 
 Joni^i^ ^«das, ^ 
 
 Lajing eggs, 9S. 
 
 117 
 
ii8 
 
 Index. 
 
 T i p y p hia c ofnmTrni<^ W^ of, =3. 
 
 linyphia mannoFata, vd> of, 58. 
 
 Lycosa, ^jvs% of, 81. 
 
 Lycosids, 27. 
 
 Mandiyes, 33. 
 
 ilaxillae, 15. 
 
 Moj^ri^e, on poisrai of ^ndess, 36; 
 on tzsp-door spders, 46. 
 
 Monhrng, no. 
 
 Mouth, 19. 
 
 Myg2fidse,23. 
 
 NephDa, web o^ 66. 
 
 Nervocs system, 22, 
 
 Ness, 52. 
 
 Noise by a ^Md^, i& 
 
 (Esoi^agiis, 19. 
 
 Fa^it, 14. 
 
 Palpal orgaos, 89. 
 
 Faiaatic spider, 38. 
 
 Parasitfts of spiders, 104. 
 
 Rukos, habit o^ wben fir^iteaed, 6x. 
 
 Fnsoa of spiders, 34. 
 
 PoisGfO-glands, 23. 
 
 Regular web of Dictyna, jx. 
 
 R^iazr of webs, 67. 
 
 Reproduction, 94. 
 
 Reprodnctive of^ns, 2a. 
 
 Roond widis, 61. 
 
 Rntmtag ^lideis, 27. 
 
 Saunders, S. S., on digging cf trap- 
 door ^udexs, 50. 
 
 Sexes di spidezs, 86. 
 
 Sfaoocbig of tlueads, 75. 
 
 Six-eyed spiders, 25. 
 
 Shaking web wfaexi frighteaed, 70^ 
 
 Spioes, 14. 
 
 S|xiiuezcC5, 39, XI. 
 
 SpfDnmg' tubes, 40. 
 
 Spots OD top di abdomen, 17. 
 
 Scoiuacb, 2z. 
 
 ^^Tw' h If t^-s^fw t*^*TV J 19. 
 
 Tame ^Mdeis, 37. 
 
 Theridiop, webof^ 6a 
 
 Theridadg, 30. 
 
 Thomisids, 29. 
 
 Tborax, 12, 
 
 Thread, 38, 42. 
 
 Trarfteg, 17, 
 
 Trap-door nests, 44. 
 
 Triai^e ^»der, 73. 
 
 Tabes, 52. 
 
 Tyin^ up insects, 43. 
 
 Use of spider's web, -r,. 
 
 Water spider, 53. 
 
 Wilder, on moiilmi^ of ^lideis, iic; 
 Triai^e ^ader, 73 ; nse c^ spader's 
 silk, 70. 
 
 Winter bafaits of seders, 113. 
 
 Yocmg spaders, 107; escape &iBi co- 
 coon, 103. 
 
 ZiDa, wd>o^ £5. 
 
 EUcrc'yptd cy C. 
 
 PeUrs &' SffMt Bcsicn, Man,