LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Spiders: Bodies
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Spiders are fairly tolerant of environmental extremes. They can adjust their body temperatures to be higher or lower than the ambient temperature by, for example, sunning to warm up, or by escaping into the shade or a burrow to cool down. High body temperatures threaten the loss of water as vapor through transpiration; a loss amounting to over 20 percent of the spider’s body weight is lethal. Spiders can drink, even from moist soil. Many spiders are nocturnal, which means that they are active only during the cooler, more humid parts of the day. Spiders can survive cold winter temperatures by moving to relatively warm micro-climates such as burrows or leaf litter; they curl up to reduce exposure, become rigid and reduce their meta-bolic rate.
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Spiders have 2 kinds of breathing organs-tracheae and book lungs . Tracheae, found in almost all kinds of true spiders, are small tubes which carry air to the body tissues. Air enters the tubes through 1 or, rarely, 2 spiracles. A spiracles is an opening in front of the spinnerets in most true spiders.
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Spiders bite their prey, and occasionally animals that cause them pain or threaten them, to do two things. First, they inflict mechanical damage, which, in the case of a spider that is as large as or larger than its prey, can be severe. Second, they can choose to inject venom through their hollow fangs. Many genera, such as the widow spiders, inject neurotoxins that can spread through the prey's entire body and interfere with vital body functions. Other genera inject venom that operates to produce tissue damage at the site of the bite. Genera such as that of the brown recluse spider produce a necrotoxin.
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These spiders ... are known as fiddlebacked or violin spiders, as they have a dark violin pattern on the front portion of the body. They have only three pair of eyes instead of four like most spiders. Their overall size is 2—3 centimeters (3/4—11/4 inches) in diameter. Brown recluse spiders vary in color from tan to dark brown. They readily enter human dwellings and hide during the daytime in baseboard or ceiling cracks, behind or in furniture, or in undisturbed piles of clothing.
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Spiders do not have chewing mouth parts, and they eat only liquids. Various appendages around the mouth opening form a short "straw" through which the spider sucks the body fluid of its victim.
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Jumping spiders (figure 1) are common spiders outdoors and indoors. They are active during the day and are often found around windows, ceilings, walls, and other areas exposed to sunlight. Jumping spiders are generally small to medium-sized (about 1/5 - 1/2 inch long) and compact-looking. They are usually dark-colored with white markings, although some can be brightly colored, including some with iridescent mouthparts. These spiders move quickly in a jerky, irregular gait. They get their name from their ability to leap on their prey, often jumping many times their own body length.
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