DIFFERENCE OF SEXES. 503 



long as the male, and, as a necessary consequence, very much larger in cubic dimensions. 

 This species is tolerably common, and is usually found on flowers, whether growing in gardens 

 or in the field. 



The female is a light citron-yellow, with some dark streaks on the cephalo-thorax, and a 

 double row of round dark spots on the upper part of the abdomen. The yellow color extends 

 over all the limbs. The male, on the contrary, is light leafy-green, with two black bands 

 running down the abdomen, and a darker streak on each side of the cephalo-thorax approach- 

 ing to brown. The first and second pairs of legs are dark chestnut-brown, while the others 

 are green like the body, so that it is a very pretty-colored creature, and so unlike the female 

 that few persons would believe it to belong to the same species. 



A VERY active spider is the PTbilodromus dispar. It can run swiftly even upon polished 

 substances. It is found in well-wooded districts, and is remarkable for the speed with 

 which it runs. The cocoon made by the female is rather large, being nearly a quarter of 

 an inch -in diameter, and containing about seventy pale yellow eggs laid loosely in a white 

 cell. This cocoon is not carried about by the female, but is lodged in a larger cell of 

 dull white silk ; and this cell is generally placed within a leaf, the edges of which are drawn 

 together by stout lines of the same silken fabric. A dead and already withered leaf is chosen 

 for this purpose. 



The color is quite different in the two sexes. The female is rather prettily marked with 

 brownish-chocolate upon a ground color of reddish-yellow, while the male is deep black-brown, 

 with a curious scribbled pattern of a paler hue along the back. The specific name of "dispar," 

 or unlike, is given to the spider on account of this dissimilarity. It is worthy of notice, how- 

 ever, that in the immature state the colors are alike in both sexes. The reader will doubtlessly 

 remember that this is the case with many birds, and that even when the adult male glows with 

 all the hues of the rainbow and the adult female wears a mere dress of sober brown, black, and 

 gray, the young birds are so similar in their plumage that it is hardly possible to distinguish 

 one sex from another. 



In a species termed Philodromus oblongus, the two sexes are colored in nearly the same 

 manner, and the male is chiefly to be distinguished from his mate by the smaller extremities 

 of the palpi. 



Our last example of this genus is the Philodromus pallidus. It is a small but rather 

 pretty species, in which the male is rather smaller and slightly darker than the female. The 

 cocoon of this species is slightly made, and white in color, and contains a large number of little 

 spherical eggs, not adhering to each other. The color is pale grayish-brown, profusely speckled 

 with tiny black dots, and marked in a very peculiar manner with dark chocolate-brown. On 

 the upper part of the cephalo-thorax there is a large and nearly triangular patch of this color, 

 with a point directed towards the tail, and around it are arranged several short streaks all 

 converging towards its point. At the end of the abdomen a number of similar stripes are 

 drawn, but without the triangular patch. 



A certainly remarkable spider which belongs to another genus, is termed Sparassus 

 smaragdulus. The sexes are wonderfully dissimilar, but instead of one sex being brilliantly 

 colored, and the other only tinted with dull hues, as is mostly the case, both sexes are equally 

 beautiful, though with boldly-contrasting colors. This difference of hue is only in the adult 

 spider, as, when immature, the male and female are colored alike. 



This spider is more than half an inch in length, and is found in tolerable plenty in northern 

 Europe, its beautiful colors rendering <^t very conspicuous. The adult female is pale green, 

 with some darker stripes painted, as it were, upon the upper surface of the cephalothorax, 

 and all drawn from the sides towards the centre ; while along the middle of the abdomen runs 

 a deep green streak, edged with greenish-white. The male, which is smaller than his mate, has 

 the whole front of the body colored like that of the female. But the abdomen is totally 

 different. The ground color is pinky cream, speckled with brown, and three broad crimson 

 bands are drawn longitudinally throughout its entire length, the central band having several 

 protuberances at intervals. 



