This title provides sharp insight into the complex, often mysterious and always fascinating world of spiders. The reader is introduced to the subject by features on the origins of arachnids, on their bewildering variety, their classification into families and genera and on their invertebrate relatives. The five chapters that follow cover the physical and behavioural characteristics of spiders, the main groups (hunters, trappers, ambushers, weavers and so on) and dangerous species. A chapter on finding and studying spiders is followed by species accounts, entitled 'What Spider is That?'.