* * * * *
Observ. XLVII. _Of the _Shepherd Spider_, or long legg'd _Spider_._
The Carter, Shepherd Spider, or long-legg'd Spider, has, for two
particularities, very few similar creatures that I have met with, the
first, which is discoverable onely by the _Microscope_, and is in the first
and second _Figures_ of the 31. _Scheme_, plainly describ'd, is the curious
contrivance of his eyes, of which (differing from most other Spiders) he
has onely two, and those plac'd upon the top of a small pillar or hillock,
rising out of the middle of the top of its back, or rather the crown of its
head, for they were fix'd on the very top of this pillar (which is about
the heighth of one of the transverse Diameters of the eye, and look'd on in
another posture, appear'd much of the shape, BCD.) The two eyes, BB, were
placed back to back, with the transparent parts, or the pupils, looking
towards either side, but somewhat more forward then backwards. C was the
column or neck on which they stood, and D the crown of the head out of
which that neck sprung.
These eyes, to appearance, seem'd to be of the very same structure with
that of larger _binocular_ creatures, seeming to have a very smooth and
very protuberant _Cornea_, and in the midst of it to have a very black
pupil, incompassed about with a kind of grey _Iris_, as appears by the
_Figure_; whether it were able to move these eyes to and fro, I have not
observ'd, but 'tis not very likely he should, the pillar or neck C, seeming
to be cover'd and stiffen'd with a crusty shell; but Nature, in
probability, has supply'd that defect, by making the _Cornea_ so very
protuberant, and setting it so cleer above the shadowing or obstructing of
its prospect by the body, that 'tis likely each eye may perceive, though
not see distinctly, almost a _Hemisphere_, whence having so small and round
a body plac'd upon such long leggs, it is quickly able so to wind, and turn
it, as to see any thing distinct.
Pages:
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439