pears by the Pla te : whether it were able to move thefe eyes to and
fro, I have not obferv’d, but ’tis not very likely he fhould, the pillar
or neck C , feeming to be cover’d and flatten'd, with a crufty lhell;
but nature, in all probability, has lupply’d that deleft, by making the
tomea fo very protuberant, and letting it fo clear above the lhadowinc
or obftrufting o f its prolpeft by the body, that ’tis likely each eye
may perceive, though not lee diltinftly, almoft a hemifphere, whence
having lo fmall and round a body plac’d upon fuch long legs, it is
cjuickly able lo to wind, and turn it, as to lee any thing diftinft.
This creature, as do all other Spiders I have yet examin’d, very much
differs from molt other inlefts in the figure o f its e yes; for I cannot,
with my belt microlcope, difcover its eyes to be any ways knobb’d
or pearl’d like thofe o f other inlefts.
T h e fecond peculiarity which is obvious to the eye, is alfo very
remarkable, .and that is the prodigious length o f its legs, in proportion
to its fmall round body, each leg o f this I drew, being above fixteen
times the length o f its whole body, and there are fome which have
them yet longer, and others that feem o f the lame kind, that have
them a great deal Ihorter; the eight legs are each o-f them jointed,
juft like thofe o f a crab, but every o f the parts are fpun out prodigioully
longer jn proportion 5 each o f thele legs are terminated in a fmall cafe or
lhell, lhap’d almoft like that of a mufcle-fhell, as is evident in the third
figure o f the fome Plate (that reprefents the appearance o f the under
part, or belly, o f the creature) by the lhape o f the protuberant conical
body 1 1 1 1 , & c . Thefe are, as ’twere, plac’d or fatten’d on to the protuberant
body o f the infeft, which is to be fuppos’d very high at M,
making a kind o f blunt cone, whereof M is to be foppos’d the apex,
about which greater cone o f the body, the fmaller cones o f the legs are
plac’d,
plac’d, each o f them almoft reaching to the top in fo admirable a man.
ner, as does not a little manifeft the wildom o f nature in the contrivance
5 for thefe long leavers ( as I may fo call them) o f the legs,
having not the advantage o f a long end on the other fide o f the hypo-
mochlion, or centers, on which part o f the legs move, muft necelfarily
require a vaft ftrength to move them, and keep the body balanc’d and
fiifpended, infomuch, that i f we lhould foppofe a man’s body fiilpend-
ed by fiich a contrivance, an hundred and fifty times the ftrength o f 3
man would not keep the body from falling ort the brëaft. T o fup-
ply therefore each o f thele legs with its proper ftrength, nature has
allow’d to each a large cheft or cell, in which is included a yery large
and ftrong mufcle ; and thereby this little animal is not only able to
fofpend its body upon left than thele eight, but to move it very fiviftly
over the tops o f graft and leaves.
N O R are thele eight legs fo prodigioully long, but the ninth, and
tenth, which are the claws, K K, are as Ihort, and fervé inftead o f
a probofois, for thofe feem’d very little longer than his mouth 5 each
o f them had three parts, but very Ihort, the joints K K, which repre-
fented the third, being longer than both the other. This creature,
feems ( which I have lèverai times with pleafure obferv’d ) to throw its
body upon the prey, inftead o f its hands, not unlike a jumping Spider,
which leaps like a cat at a moufe. The whole febrick was a very
pretty one, and could I have diffefted it, I doubt not but I fhould have
found as many Angularities within it as without ; perhaps, for the moft
part, not unlike the parts o f a crab, which this little creature does, in
many things, very much refemble, the curiofity o f whole contrivance
I have in another place examin’d. I omit the defeription o f the horns’
A A, o f the mouth, L L , which feem’d like that o f a crab ; the'
1 2 fpecklednefi