Mr. A. Adams on the Habits of certain Exotic Spiders. 295 



running, therefore they resemble their aquatic marine analogues 

 the Pycnogonida, which remain stationary among the tangled 

 and thread-like Keratophytes, which constitute the webs of those 

 spider-like Crustaceans, and thus watch cautiously for prey, and, 

 when it is caught in their toils, consume it at their leisure, so 

 making up by cunning and persevering watching for the want of 

 that strength and force possessed by some of their consimilars. 

 Most of the Arachnidans would appear on a careful comparison 

 to have very distinct analogies with the families of Crustaceans*. 



The nimble-limbed Dolomedes, that run* after their prey and 

 catch them by swiftness of foot rather than by stratagem, have 

 slender legs, and living on the ground, are generally of dingy 

 colours ; with the exception, however, of those very large and 

 powerful species, which, if not rendered somewhat conspicuous 

 to the sight of other insects, might do too much damage to the 

 tribes they are destined to keep in check. Most of these, there- 

 fore, have the thorax and abdomen margined with a light colour 

 that contrasts strongly with that of their bodies. The Saltici 

 generally resemble more or less the colour of the places they in- 

 habit. I noticed a species, among the dense thickets, formed by 

 Abrus precatorius and other trees, with a black abdomen, marked 

 on each side with dull scarlet, — curious as being the colours of 

 the seeds of Abrus, which are called by children " blackamoor 

 beauties j* those species that live on the barks of trees are mottled 

 gray and brown, and those which you find upon the ground are 

 altogether black and dingy- coloured. How admirably, in these 

 examples, is shown the fitness of things, maintained even be- 

 tween organisms usually deemed so abject, and the domains they 

 owe to ever-careful Nature ! It matters not much whether we say 

 the place determines the nature of the animal, or whether the 

 animal is adapted to the place, although it is more pleasing to an 

 observer of nature to trace the harmonies and adaptations to an 

 intelligent foresight, like the good St. Pierre, than to make them 

 merely the necessary results of a physical arrangement of the 

 earth's surface, like the ingenious author of the ' Vestiges of the 

 Natural History of Creation/ 



In a beautiful wood behind Calderos in Mindanao, I observed 

 a dingy little species of spider of the genus Clubiona, concealing 

 itself in very snug retreats, formed out of a dead leaf rolled round 



* The Baron Walckenaer has even compared one family of Philodromi to 

 " Crabes longipedes," and has named a subdivision of Thomisus " Crusta- 

 ceides," because their bodies are covered with rugosities like those of some 

 Crustaceans. To men fond of " quinary " theories the Arachnidans would 

 offer a rich treat, and innumerable analogies might be traced with much 

 amusement, if not with much instruction. 



