ing eggs, with family 6, laterigrade, walking and running sideways or backward, and occasionally throwing out threads to entrap their prey (thomisus). III. Errantes, prowling in the neighborhood of their nests or threads, with families: 7, niditela, going abroad, but making a web whence issue threads to entrap prey (clubiona, drassus); 8, filitela, spreading long threads about their prowling places (pholcus, clotho). IV. Sedentes, spinning large webs and lying in wait in the middle or at the side, with families: 9, tapitela, spinning large webs of close texture in which they dwell (tegenaria, agelena); 10, orbitela, spreading orbicular or spiral webs of a regular open texture, living in the middle or at the side (epeira); 11, retitelæ, spinning irregular webs of open meshes, remaining in the middle or on the side (theridion). V. Natantes, swimmers, spreading filaments in water, with family: 12, aquitela (argyroneta).

the legs and palpi; the intestine arises from this annular stomach, traverses the abdomen on the median line, and before ending at the anus forms a cloacal dilatation; salivary glands exist in a cavity above the palate, communicating with the mouth by a slit in the upper lip; the liver is very large, enveloping most of the viscera, of a dirty yellow, made up of numerous branches and closely aggregated cæca, opening into the middle portion of the intestine. The blood is colorless; there is a heart, dorsal vessel with many constrictions, arteries, and vessels returning the blood from the respiratory organs. Respiration takes place both by pulmonary sacs and trachem, one or the other penetrating all parts of the body and limbs; there are two sacs occupying the base of the abdomen, containing more or less lamellæ ; the blood penetrates to the respiratory system probably by a kind of infiltration. Distinct urinary organs are present, much | Spiders are found in every habitable portion ramified glandular tubes pouring a whitish or of the globe, but are largest in warm climates; reddish secretion into the cloaca. There are the males and females live separately, and the two poison glands at the base of the cheli- latter are most frequently seen and are considceres, communicating with their terminal hook. erably the larger; all are carnivorous, devourThe apparatus which secretes the viscid trans- ing living prey, sucking the juices and someparent liquid, hardening into silk on expo- times swallowing the fragments; the females sure to the air, consists of glandular follicles are generally ready to attack and feed on the and tubes, of various forms and arrangement, males, even in the reproducing season, and in the midst of the abdominal organs; in both sexes are fond of fighting, the vanquished most spiders there are three pairs (in some being devoured; they can support long fasts, two) of jointed spinnerets or obtusely conical and remain torpid during the winter; they are papillæ behind the anus; the apex of these very cleanly, and spend much time in clearing papillæ is surrounded by stiff bristles and their limbs from dust and dirt by the toothed hairs, and is dotted with numerous horny combs and brushes on the mandibles. In matubes, the prolongation of the excretory ducts; king their webs they accommodate themselves the number of the tubes varies from 1,000 remarkably to circumstances, displaying great in epeira to less than 100 in the smaller spe- perseverance, ingenuity, and almost intellicies. The sexes are separate, and the eggs are gence; they carefully guard their eggs, somenumerous and spheroidal; a single impreg- times carrying about with them the silken bag nation is sufficient for several successive gen- which contains them, and are affectionate to erations. There is generally only one brood in their young, which in some cases devour their a year; the embryos are developed after the mother. They descend by their silken threads deposition of the eggs, and are hatched some- head downward, but climb up on them head times in a few weeks, and at others not till the upward, rolling them into a bundle during the following spring; the eggs are enveloped in a ascent; the thread cannot be used a second silken bag, from which the young are some- time for the same purpose. When they wish to times helped out by the mother; they resemble go from tree to tree, some let go a thread in the the parents except in size, and undergo no direction of the wind, and when it has reached metamorphosis but change of skin; life may be the object they strengthen and pass over it, in prolonged for several years. Only the system this way travelling long distances without deof classification of Walckenaer will be briefly scending to the ground; their tiny cables are given here, as it places stress on the most in- very abundantly seen in dewy mornings of teresting points in their economy, though not spring and autumn; some small gossamer spiaffording a sufficient basis for natural classifica- ders even speed through the air buoyed up by tion. He divides the spinning spiders into ter- their light threads. They are capable of some restrial and aquatic, as follows: I. Venantes, domestication; Pelisson, a prisoner in the Basalways running or leaping near their abode in tile, had a pet spider which came regularly, at search of prey, with the families: 1, latebrico- the sound of a musical instrument, to get its la, hiding in holes and fissures, like mygale; 2, meal of flies; and a spider raiser in France is tubicola, enclosing themselves in silken tubes said to have tamed 800, which he kept in a sin(dysdera, segestria); 3, cellulicola, living in gle apartment for their silk. The supply of the small cells (scytodes); 4, cursores, swift runners silk of the spider seems to be limited to suffi(lycosa, ctenus); 5, saltatores, leaping with cient to make six or seven webs in a season; it is agility (attus). II. Vagantes, wandering after very strong and very fine, and is used in astronprey, without fixed residence except while lay-omy for the divisions of the micrometer; ac

|

species of the genus lycosa (Latr.) are well called wolf spiders, for they are the most savage, voracious, and quarrelsome of the family; they make no web, but prowl on the ground by night, running very fast, and hiding in nat

cording to Leeuwenhoek, it takes 4,000,000 of
the extremely delicate threads from the thou-
sands of spinnerules to make a filament as large
as a human hair; each thread of the spider as
used in the web is made up of thousands of
smaller ones; one or all the spinnerets may be
used as occasion requires. Attempts have been
made to render the silk of the spider avail-
able for manufacturing purposes, but with lit-
tle success. (See COBWEB, and SILK SPIDER.)
Spiders are eaten by many barbarous tribes
of men, as the American Indians, S. Africans,
and Australians; they also supply abundant
food to many birds, reptiles, and carnivorous
insects. They are affected and frequently de-
stroyed by parasitic mites, and their eggs serve
to nourish the young larvæ of several species
of ichneumon flies; the smallest puncture in
the chest or abdomen is fatal from the impos-
sibility of arresting the escape of the nutrient
fluids; their colors fade rapidly after death,
even in preservative liquids. A single wound
from a spider will soon kill the domestic fly;
the large crab spiders of South America (my-
gale) leap upon and destroy humming birds and
creepers, and produce dangerous and occasion-
ally fatal symptoms in debilitated persons;
every physician knows that even the bite of
the smaller spiders of temperate climates may
pierce the skin in certain localities, and cause
painful irritation. For descriptions and figures
of the species of the United States see papers
by N. M. Hentz in vols. iv., v., and vi. of the
"Boston Journal of Natural History" (1841-
'57), now in course of republication, with fig-
ures by the same society (1875). The genus
mygale (Walck.) contains the largest of the
spiders, of dark colors, nocturnal, living in
galleries which they make in the ground, in
clefts of trees, crevices in rocks, or among
leaves. The crab or bird spider of South
America (M. avicularia, Walck.) is about 3 in.
long, its legs extending over a space of 8 or 10
in.; the body is very hairy and blackish, and
the ends of the feet are reddish; it is very
powerful, jumping upon and killing small birds;
it spins no web; its cell is in the form of a
pointed tube, of a white firm tissue. There are
some large species in the southern states, feed-
ing principally on the large orthoptera, believed
by the Indians to possess valuable medicinal
properties, and eaten accordingly. A large
species (M. Hentzii) in Texas is called there ta-
rantula; other species in California are called
trap-door spiders, from their hollowing a more
or less conical nest, about 3 in. long and an
inch in diameter, in the clayey soil; the nests
are lined with silk, with an accurately fitting
lid, so arranged that the inmate can firmly
hold it down against ordinary enemies; the
cover outside so nearly resembles the surround-
ing earth in color and roughness as to be rec-ish
ognized with difficulty. For an account of the
curious devices in the interior arrangement of
these nests, see 66
Proceedings of the Boston
Society of Natural History" for 1875. The

Wolf Spider (Lycosa fatifera).

ural or artificial holes in the ground, which
they strengthen with silk; the females carry
the cocoon attached to the posterior part of
the body, and defend it with the greatest cour-
age, some guarding it under stones; the young
when hatched climb on the abdomen of the
mother, giving her a monstrous appearance,
and are said finally to devour her. One of
the largest and most common species is the L.
fatifera (Hentz), about 1 in. long, hairy, and
bluish black; it is as large as the tarantula of
Europe, which belongs to this genus, and is not
uncommon in Massachusetts; it must rarely
bite persons, from its habits and haunts, though
its poison may produce ill consequences if
introduced under the skin, not however to be
compared with those from the mygale of the
tropics; it is very savage and tenacious of life.
The genus attus (Walck.) includes the small
species commonly called jumping spiders; they
make no web, wander in search of prey, and
cast the skin and hibernate in silken-valved
recesses; they are common in
summer on walls and windows
in the sun, walking by jerks,
crawling stealthily up to flies,
and jumping with rarely failing
accuracy when near enough.
The best known jumping spi-
der in New England is the A.
familiaris (Hentz), about in.
long, pale gray and hairy, the
abdomen blackish with a gray-

Jumping Spider (Attus familiaris).

angular band; it is very common in houses, dwelling in cracks on the outside, and wandering about in the sun in search of food; before leaping at a fly, it fixes a thread to secure itself from falling. It is widely dis

taceans of the crab family, and more particnlarly of the libinia canaliculata of North America and the maia squinado of Europe. In L. canaliculata (Say) the thorax is densely hairy, with spines on the borders and on the back; the rostrum is grooved at the tip and channelled between the eyes; the anterior feet are unarmed and granulated, the hands elongated, and the fingers white at tip. The body is convex and heart-shaped, 4 in. in diameter, the long legs spreading over 12 to 16 in.; the eyes small and very short; it is blackish green,

authors (Leipsic, 1859; 3d ed., 1871), Roscoe's "Lorenzo de' Medici" (1859), and several of Michelet's works. A collected edition of his works has been published at Berlin (10 vols., 1872-13).

SPIESS, Heinrich, a German painter, born in Munich, May 10, 1832, died there, Aug. 8, 1875. He was the son of an engraver, completed his studies under Kaulbach, whom he

very active, and ferocious-looking; it is often caught in nets, and from the wharves and bridges of New England; it is not used for food. The M. squinado (Latr.), or corwich, is reddish, and 4 to 6 in. long; the body is covered with spines and hairs; it is found along the coasts of W. Europe and in the Mediterranean, making its appearance in Great Britain about May and remaining till September, greatly annoying the fishermen by fright-assisted in his cartoon of "The Crusaders,” ening away fish and larger crabs and lobsters from the nets by its constant movements; it is eaten by the poorer classes; the young when first hatched are very unlike their parents; as many as 80,000 eggs have been found on a single female. The ancients believed it to be endowed with reason, and represented it suspended from the neck of Diana of Ephesus as an emblem of wisdom; it is also figured on their medals.-Lithodes arctica (Latr.) is also called spider crab; the body is spiny, and the long beak bifurcated; the hands small and unequal, the limbs long and hairy, and the fifth pair imperfect; it is reddish yellow, spreading about 20 in., and a hideous-looking species; it is found on the coast of Norway.

SPIDER MONKEY, or Coaita. See MONKEY. SPIEGEL, Friedrich, a German orientalist, born at Kitzingen, near Würzburg, July 11, 1820. After studying at Erlangen, Leipsic, and Bonn, and spending several years in travel, he became in 1849 professor of oriental languages at Erlangen. Besides editing several Persian works, he has published Einleitung in die traditionellen Schriften der Parsen (2 vols., Leipsic, 1856-'60); Die altpersischen Keilinschriften (Leipsic, 1862); Eranische Alterthumskunde (2 vols., Leipsic, 1871-3); and several grammars and minor treatises bearing on Iranian antiquities, religion, language, literature, and ethnology.

SPIELHAGEN, Friedrich, a German novelist, born in Magdeburg, Feb. 24, 1829. He studied at Berlin, Bonn, and Greifswald, and devoted himself to literature. His works are: Clara Vere (1857); Auf der Düne (1858); Problematische Naturen (1860, English translation "Problematic Characters," by Prof. Schele de Vere, New York, 1869), and its continuation, Durch Nacht zum Licht (1861; English translation, "Through Night to Light," by the same, New York, 1869); In der zwölften Stunde (1862); Die von Hohenstein (1863; English translation, "The Hohensteins," by the same, 1870); Röschen vom Hofe (1864); In Reih und Glied (1866); Unter den Tannen (1867); Hammer und Amboss (1869; English translation, "Hammer and Anvil," by William Hand Browne, 1873); Die Pioniere (1871); Alle Zeit voran (1872); Was die Schwalbe sang (1873; English translation, "What the Swallow Sang," 1873); Ultimo (1874); and Liebe für Liebe (1875), a drama, which has been played in Leipsic. He has translated Curtis's "Howadji" (Hanover, 1857), Emerson's "English Traits" (1858), American poems by various

and executed a celebrated copy of his "Angel
carrying a Dead Child to Heaven." In 1855
he was employed by Kaulbach in decorating
the Wartburg, and he was one of the school
of artists known as 66
young Munich," led by
Faltz. In 1856 he obtained a prize for his
"Jacob Wrestling with the Angel," and in
1861-2 he painted for the museum of Munich
the great frescoes relating to the pilgrimage
of Duke Henry the Lion to Jerusalem, and to
his quelling the disturbances at St. Peter's at
the coronation of the emperor Frederick I.
SPIKE. See NAIL.

SPIKENARD. The ancients, under the name
of nard (Heb. nerd; Gr. vápdos; Lat. nardus),
made use of several roots having properties
similar to valerian; one having its flowers (or
leaves) in spikes was called spikenard (nardus
spicatus), and, according to Boyle, was the
plant now known to botanists as nardostachys
Jatamansi, which belongs to the valerian fam-
ily and is found in Bengal; it is now quite
out of use except in the East. There were
also a leafy nard, a rooting nard, and others
designated by the names of the countries pro-
ducing them.-The plant called spikenard in
this country is aralia racemosa.
Other species
of aralia are mentioned under GINSENG and
SARSAPARILLA. This has a herbaceous, widely
branched stem, 3 to 5 ft. high, from a perennial
root; the large decompound leaves ternately
or quinately divided with heart-ovate leaflets;
the flowers, in umbels, which are united to
form large panicles, are polygamous or perfect,
greenish white, and succeeded by small dark
purple berries. The plant is found from Can-
ada southward, and is sometimes seen in gar
dens of medicinal plants; both root and ber-
ries have a warm, aromatic taste, and a tincture
of them made with spirits is in some parts
of the country a popular domestic stimulant.
The root appears to be a stimulant diaphoretic,
and was held in high esteem by the Indians.

SPINACH, a plant of the chenopodiacea or goosefoot family, spinacia oleracea, the leaves of which are used as food. According to some authors, the botanical and common names are derived from the Latin spina, a thorn, as some varieties have prickly seeds; others say that it is called in various languages by names equivalent to Hispanica, Spanish. Spinach was not known to the ancients, and it was a novelty in Europe in the 16th century. It is probably a native of western Asia. The plant is cultivated both as an annual and a biennial; it has petioled, ovate or triangular, succulent leaves;

the flower stalks are 2 to 3 ft. high, hollow, | when lying in bed should be employed as the furrowed, and branching; the apetalous flow-chief hygienic measures.-Angular curvature, ers are dicecious, the male in long spikes, the female in clusters at every joint of the stem; the calyx in the pistillate flowers hardens and forms an involucre to the seeds, and in some