Should the student of plant life not yet be satiated with following the suggestions we have made, he can turn his attention to fruits and seeds and the contrivances designed for their distribution. The fruits of goosegrass, popularly known as cleavers, are studded with little hooks so that they may adhere to any passing animal. The fruits of Burdock are similarly armed and if we make a study of fruits and seeds we shall find that this is a very common method of ensuring distribution. There are also a number of seeds covered with hairs which render them buoyant; those of the willow herb are easily found, so too are the fruits of dandelion, thistle and groundsel. These and many more will give us many an interesting hour, towards autumn. CHAPTER VIII ANIMAL LIFE AND THE MICROSCOPE There are few more interesting animals than spiders and we may spend many an hour learning details of their structure, which only the microscope can show, and studying their habits, for only by doing so is it brought home to us how astonishingly clever they are. The spider, of course, is not an insect; it has eight legs, whereas the insect has only six, its head and thorax are fused, but in the case of insects head and thorax are separate. There are many other, less evident, points of difference as we shall see. For the microscope, there are few better objects in animal land than the feet of spiders. Their study will give us plenty of occupation for they are modelled on various plans, according to the different kinds of spider. Taking the common garden spider as our first example we shall find that its foot is a most ingenious contrivance. Our microscope will show us that the foot is armed with a pair of comb-like claws. A little study of the habits of the spider will enlighten us concerning the uses of these combs. At this point we may remark that the examination of living creatures beneath the microscope should, whenever possible, go hand in hand with a study of habits. Over and over again in our microscopical investigations we shall come across structures which appear to be useless as far as we can surmise. A careful observation of the living owners of these puzzling structures will probably clear up the whole matter. Well, let us watch a garden spider; if we do so intelligently we shall see two uses of these combs and may guess the third. The spider uses its combs as we do, to straighten its hair; they also clean its body. It uses them to obtain a firm grasp of the threads of which its web is composed and, though we cannot see this, so quick are the movements of the creature, the combs serve a very useful purpose in holding captured prey.