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 Moggridge; 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 numerous 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 been repeated by favor of the author and publishers. Most of the figures are, however, new, and engraved by photography from my own drawings.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
| PAGE | ||
| 1. | Under Side of Epeira Vulgaris | 13 |
| 2. | 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 Nævia | 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 removed | 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 | 57 |
| 26. | Web of Linyphia Communis | 59 |
| 27. | Pholcus swinging | 61 |
| 28. | Round Web of Epeira Vulgaris | 62 |
| 29. | Web of Zilla | 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 Dictyna, showing regular arrangement of threads | 75 |
| 38. | Unfinished Web of Triangle Spider. From Wilder | 76 |
| 39. | Finished Web of Triangle Spider, and Spider holding the Web. | |
| From Wilder | 78 | |
| 40. | Young Lycosa flying | 81 |
| 41. | Flying Spider with a Thread attached to the Ground | 84 |
| 42. | Large Attus flying by a Brush of Threads | 85 |
| 43. | Male and Female Nephila Plumipes. From Wilder, | |
| in Proceedings Boston Society Natural History | 78 | |
| 44,45. | Heads of Males of Several Species of Erigone | 88, 89 |
| 46. | Palpal Organ of Mygale | 89 |
| 47. | Palpal Organ of Epeira | 90 |
| 48. | Palpal Organ of Theridion | 91 |
| 49. | Epigynum of Epeira Riparia | 92 |
| 50. | Epigynum of Theridion | 93 |
| 51. | Epigynum of Theridion | 94 |
| 52. | Copulation of Lycosa | 95 |
| 53. | Copulation of Linyphia | 96 |
| 54. | Copulation of Agalena | 96 |
| 55. | Copulation of Epeira Riparia | 97 |
| 56. | Drassus laying Eggs | 99 |
| 57. | Lycosa carrying Cocoon attached to her Spinnerets | 100 |
| 58. | Attus Mystaceus laying Eggs | 101 |
| 59. | Epeira Strix making Cocoon | 101 |
| 60. | Epeira Strix laying Eggs | 102 |
| 61. | Cocoon of Argyrodes hanging by a Stem | 103 |
| 62. | Cocoon of Epeira Riparia. From Wilder | 103 |
| 63. | Eggs during Segmentation | 106 |
| 64. | Eggs further Advanced | 108 |
| 65. | Young Epeira Riparia after First Moult | 109 |
| 66. | Moulting of Nephila Plumipes. From Wilder | |
| in Proceedings American Association | 111 | |
| 67. | Nephila Plumipes just after Moulting. From Wilder | 111 |
THE STRUCTURE AND HABITS
OF SPIDERS.
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. They are distinguished by the more complete separation of the body into two parts; by their two-jointed mandibles, discharging 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, Epeira vulgaris of Hentz, will serve as well as any species to show the anatomy of spiders in general. Fig. 1 shows the under side of this 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. 1: the body is seen to be divided into two parts, connected only by the narrow 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 nervous 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 organs 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.
Fig. 1.
The legs are used chiefly for running, jumping, and climbing; 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 walking or climbing about with the 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 jumping 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.
Fig. 2.
In front of the legs are the palpi, Fig. 1, C, C,—a smaller pair of limbs, with six joints and only one claw or none. They are used as feelers, and for handling food, and, in the males, carry the curious palpal organs, which will be described farther on. The basal joints, Fig. 1, E, of the palpi are flattened out, and serve as chewing-organs, called “maxillæ.”
Fig. 3.
Mr. Mason has lately described, in the Transactions of the Entomological Society of London, a large spider which has teeth on the inside of the palpi, which, when the spider is angry, are rubbed against teeth on the mandibles, producing a noise.
The front pair of limbs, the mandibles, Fig. 1, 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.
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. 1, H. Between these is the opening of the reproductive organs, and, in female spiders, the epigynum, Fig. 1, J,—an apparatus for holding the reproductive cells of the male.
Fig. 1Fig. 1