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The phylum Chordata contains a number of groups including, Vertebrata, Cyclostomata, Gnathostomata and so forth. There are five unifying characteristics that all chordates have at some point in their lifecycle, whether it be the embryonic, larval or adult stages. It is important to note that these do not have to be present at the same time during the organisms lifecycle. The first of these characterstics is the presence of a notochord. This is a rod that runs the length of of the body and provides a flexible yet ridged support structure. A second characteristic all Chordates have is a dorsal hallow nerve cord. This is a hallow nerve chord which runs the length of the body and, as the name suggests, sits dorsal to the notochord. Chordates also posses an iodine fixing gland. In many groups this organ is an endostyle, but it is similar to the thyroid. The last two characteristics chordates have is a post-anal tail and pharyngeal gill slits.

One example of a chordate is the Tunicate. As an adult, this blob shaped organism adheres to surfaces and filter feeds. At this stage of its life it is entirely sessile and the only chordate it possesses is its endostyle, which itself is necessary for filter feeding. However, the larval stage of the Tunicate is a small and motile organism. In this stage of life, all the traditional characteristics of a chordate are present. This demonstrates how important it is not to examine only one stage of life when organizing them into their classifications and exploring evolutionary history. Many traits are present when in development, and lost during adulthood.

Native Americans were given two contradicting stereotypes in the United States: bloodthirsty savages who attacked the white settlers or helpless victims who had their land and resources striped away from them. Although both stereotypes are opposite to each other, they possess the same stereotypical image of native attire and appearance. Native Americans are thought be be wearing feather, braids, beads and holding spears. Due to the fact that modern Indians do not wear that apparel in this era, society has a preconceived idea that they are no longer present in America. This idea is not true due to the large amount of Native American populations and land that still exists. Native Americans blend in with contemporary society.

One of the most notable parts of a spider's body is its legs. After observation of the spider it is noticed that it acts very still when it is being left alone. A slight tap on the desk causes the spider to become more lively. As it starts to move around the cup it is observed that the spider's walking pattern seems off. The spider seems to favor walking on its left side. Upon further investigation it is noticed that the spider has an injury. The injury is to one of the spider's legs which has fallen off. The legs of the spider are brown and about three times the length of the spider's body. They are brown in color, and broken into three segments. Between the segement closest to the spider's body and the middle segment is a joint. The joints on the spider's legs are almost black and very small in size. The joints are the highest points of the spider when it is resting flat on the surface of the container. As the spider becomes more active it crawls to the top of the container where it draws its legs inward and hangs on by only one part of its body. The legs of a spider are very important for movement and survivial and often is what makes it distinguishable as a spider. 

The spider looks like a cellar spider you find around your house. At first it seemed like it was dead because it wasn't moving. However, when i proceeded to open the small plastic container where the spider was, the spider started to move. Maybe it was because i was letting some air in the container or the spider wanted to be free. I noticed the spider's eight legs are covered with many hairs. This particular arthropod had more than two eyes, i tried to count it but it was so small that i needed a microscope to do so. I was very intrigued whether i was observing a female or male spider because i wanted to know if that influenced its behavior. I perceived that the spider was hanging upside down, i could only assume that it had maybe made its own web. I never noticed a spider before and it was really interesting to observe a spider in class.

The dainty spider fits easily into the small plastic container. I am not sure what species of spider it is, but it seems to very clearly be a spider due to several of its physical characteristics. The main characteristics that identifies this as a spider is the fact that it has eight legs, a feature that applies to many arachnids. It rarely stops moving however it does stay motionless on its webbing which it seamlessly builds at the top of the container via its lower abdomen where it ejects a silky substance. The spider sits on the webbing in a stationary manner to most likely assist in its hunting efforts so as not to disturb potential prey. Physically the spider’s legs are a reddish brown color that each has three to four dark brown spots in nearly the exact same order. The spider’s body is a dark brown bordering on black with several speckles on its back that are a white-yellow color. The speckles are very orderly and move down the spiders abdomen in a vertical direction, they have an almost diamond shape. Its two front legs seem to be the longest and most mobile reaching out when the spider is in motion. The spider has two joints on each leg.

The organism inside the plastic container hung upside down from the top the of the lid. It had eight legs and two body segments, with the body being no larger than two millimeters squared. The abdomen of this organism protruded from the cephalothorax and the long, thin legs stuck out from the thorax segment. This characteristic indicated to me that the organism is most likely a spider. As I moved the container around in my hands, the spider frantically ran around the inside of the container. The tiny legs seemed to move with no precision or direction. I noticed that the legs had three joints, and on these joints were little dark brown dots. The two front legs were longer than the rest of the legs on the spider. After I tapped on the plastic container, the spider scrunched up and timidly rested in the corner of the container as if it was trying to hide from me. After more observation, a small web became apparent on the bottom of the container, where the spider was most likely resting before being passed around. 

Upon first seeing the spider, it was apparent that the legs were too long to be kept in the container. While the front legs appeard to fit fine, they were smaller in size. It was the large back legs that would buckle and contort back onto the spider. The legs themselves appeard to have two joints where they were capable of bending. This allowed for three separate areas for the leg, an ascending, transverse, and a descending area. Of course, the legs could also straighten and it would appear that the leg was straight. There was no designation that the leg was capable of in fact bending in multiple places. However, in knowing that the legs did bend, it was observed that at each bend there were bands of white and black that did not match the rest of the spider's coloration. While some legs had a black, white, black banding, others consisted of just two bands of black and then white or were solely white.

In this first class meeting I looked at a common basement spider that was in a clear plastic cup with a lid on it. The spider was light brown and fairly large compared to the other spiders that my classmates were looking at. I estimate that the spider was 2 inches long, including its legs. This spider had 7 legs, which was unususal as most spiders have 8. It appeared as if one leg was ripped off prior to the spider being placed into the cup. The hind legs of the spider were significantly longer than the front legs. Each leg had 3 joints, and at each joint was a specific marking pattern that went black-white-black. The legs of this spider got progressivley thinner as they got further away from the body. I observed small hairs covering the legs and body of the spider. I thought that these could be a way for the spider to sense its external environment. The most prominent marking on this spider was a black sesame seed shaped marking on the top of the head. I also noticed that the spider had several small black eyes, and a mouth that resembled that of a crab. The spiders behavior was constant, varying between frantically moving around trying to escape, and not moving at all. I observed some thin white film that had stuck to the sides of the cup, which I predict was the spiders discharge in an attempt to spin a web. I asked myself why would the spider try to spin a web in such a confined space? The spider was symmertical if it were to be cut down the middle, with the exception of the missing leg on the left side. The thorax of the spider was where all of the leg protrusions came from, and the abdomen was signignificantly longer and the shape of a pea pod. The abdomen was light grey with two white spots on either side. There was a lighter brown patch that ran along the top of the abdomen. I wondered to myself: What kind of environment would these markings be beneficial to the spider?

    When the front end of the insect was inspected, there was what could be assumed to be its mouth, colored a slight orangery-red with a black outline surrounding it on most sides. Between the black lines and the thorax, on the bottom of the organism, was the most red component; a small red circle. Shaped like a leaf with its top cut off, the head had a tiny black dot on the top with a black outline around its rim. The front end of the head had a series of tiny black eyes, too small to accurately count without magnification. Two tan, tubular components were at the front of the head, and it was assumed that they were related to its ability to eat. But upon closer inspection of the front end of the insect, the aforementioned structures where the assumed mouth was began to look more like small apendages. Therefore, it was assumed that this organism was a member of the arachnid family due to the presence of eight legs.

The leg appendages of the spider have at least two joints where they bend. The first joint is located about 1cm up the leg. This first joint is colored somewhat darker than the rest of the spider’s body. The second leg joint is located about 1cm from the first. This joint also had a darker colored section, though it was followed by a lighter, almost translucent, section of leg. There is a likely another joint present where the leg meets the thorax, allowing for better movement of the spider.