=Sense-Organs.=—Spiders possess the senses of sight, smell, and touch. Whether or not they have a true auditory sense is still a matter of doubt. Since sounds are conveyed by vibrations of the air, it is never very easy to determine whether responses to sounds produced near the animal experimented upon are proofs of the existence of an auditory organ, or whether they are only perceived through the ordinary channels of touch. In any case, the organs of hearing and of smell have not yet been located in the Spider. M‘Cook considers various hairs scattered over the body of the spider to be olfactory, but from Gaskell’s researches upon allied Arachnid groups it would seem that the true smelling organ is to be sought for in the rostrum. =Eyes.=—Spiders possess from two to eight simple eyes, the external appearance and arrangement of which have already been briefly explained. They are sessile and immovable, though often so placed as to command a view in several directions. In structure they are essentially like the ocelli of Insects. Externally there is a lens, succeeded by a mass of transparent cells, behind which is a layer of pigment. Then come the rods and cones of the retina, to which the optic nerve is distributed. A comparison of this with the arrangement in the Vertebrate eye will show a reversal of the positions of the retina and the pigment-layer. The lens is part of the outside covering of the animal, and is cast at the time of moulting, when the spider is temporarily blind. It is stated, however, that the eyes do not all moult simultaneously. There is often a considerable difference between the various eyes of the same spider, especially with regard to the convexity of the lens and the number of rods and cones. Though most spiders possess eight eyes, the number is sometimes smaller, and in some groups of eight-eyed spiders two of the eyes are sometimes so reduced and degenerate as to be practically rudimentary. As might be expected, Cave-spiders (e.g. _Anthrobia mammouthia_) may be entirely sightless. =Touch.=—The sense of touch would appear to be extremely well developed in some spiders, and there is reason for believing that the Orb-weavers, at all events, depend far more upon it than upon that of sight. Among the hairs which are distributed over the spider’s body and limbs, several different forms may be distinguished, and some of them are undoubtedly very delicate sense-organs of probably tactile function. =Spinning Glands.=—Spiders vary greatly in their spinning powers. Some only use their silk for spinning a cocoon to protect their eggs, while others employ it to make snares and retreats, to bind up their prey, and to anchor themselves to spots to which they may wish to return, and whence they “drag at each remove a lengthening chain.”