1. Note that the spider's body is of two regions, the head-thorax and the abdomen, and that it is supported by eight legs. To what part of the body are the legs attached? 2. Find the feelers; if they are club-shaped, your specimen is a male. State their number and tell where they are attached. What is the sex of your spider? 3. Usually there are eight tiny near-sighted eyes on the front of the head. State the color of the eyes and by a diagram indicate their arrangement. 4. With what kind of material is the body covered (use the lens)? 5. What is the color of your specimen? What special markings has it? Find out the name of your kind of spider. 6. Holding the spider aloft in your fingers, allow it to drop upon the thread it will spin, and watch it climb and spin. Record the number of the spinners, their situation, and how they act. Are the threads sticky? If so, why doesn't the spider stick to its web? Is the web used for a home or for a snare? 7. Try to discover how the feet are enabled to cling to the thread. 8. Examine a cocoon, noting its outer form and structure, and look for an opening at the top. If you can open a cocoon carefully with scissors, look for its two coats and inspect its contents. 9. State three uses for the spider's silk. 10. What is the work of spiders amongst the animal population of the earth, or of what use are they? 11. Out of doors find webs of various kinds: wheel web, tent web, triangle web, etc. 12. How do the jumping spiders differ from others in their spinning and feeding habits? 13. Look up what is meant by ballooning spiders. Find out when ballooning occurs and what is accomplished by it. _Suggested drawings._ a. The entire spider, seen from above. b. A cocoon. THE LIVING CRICKET _Materials._ Living crickets in cages, with materials for food and concealment, and individual specimens in wide-mouth bottles or vials with cotton stoppers. _Observations._ 1. What is the average size and the general color of crickets? 2. Just what do they do when you try to catch them? What structures enable them to do these things? 3. Of the three pairs of legs, which extend sidewise for running or grasping, and which backward for jumping or climbing? What structures have the legs to enable them to do their work properly? 4. Notice how well developed the cricket's wings are, and state how much they are used or how they influence the habits of the animal. 5. How many projecting spines are there on the hinder end of the body? Are they ornamental or useful? how? The female crickets have a special spear-shaped spine for depositing eggs. 6. In a column make a list of the senses (sight, feeling, etc.), and opposite each state what kind of an organ is used and where it is located. The ears are oblong white spots on the second long piece of the front legs.