COLOR AND THE COLOR SENSE. 339 



in a domicile of rolled leaves, shrinking away into cavities and holes of 

 bark, in angles of walls, and like i)Ositions, occnp^'ing at times a well made 

 leafy tent, after the maimer of Insularis and Trifoliuni, and only 

 Contra^ o^^cupying its sriare during the night. It is one of the rarest 

 dictions. ^^''"8^ to find a Furrow sjiider, unless it be quite young, sus- 

 l^ended upon its orb, trapping flies, in daytime. Notwithstand- 

 ing its seeming protective color, and the additional protection of its secret- 

 ive habits, it is mercilessly pursued, in the vicinity of Philadelphia, by the 

 steel blue wasp, which stores numbers in its clay cells. 



Epeira domicilioruni and cinerea are also spiders of rather inconspicuous 

 colors, the last named particularly so, and both of them screen themselves 

 in tents, though the Domicile spider at least not as habitually as some 

 others. 



The Labyrinth spider and Epeira triaranea are among the most 

 strongly protected of our fauna by their industry, having, besides their 



orbs and thick retitelarian 

 Domicile, snare, a dome shaped silk- 

 Laby- ^jj ^^^-^^ ,^g .^ ^lo^^iQile jjj 



Orchkrd ^^'^•^it'O", Labyrinthea roofs 

 Spiders, ^"^i' ^^'^^ with a dry leaf, or 

 uses it as a shelter for her 

 body. Tliese spiders are strongly 

 marked as to their patterns, and are 



, Fig. 309. Leaf nest of Epeira. 



not mconspicuously colored, but do 



not have the bright hues which characterize Argiope, Epeira insularis, and 



some others. 



The Orchard spider is one of the most brilliantly colored of our indig- 

 enous species, although its hues harmonize well, particularly its green and 

 yellow, with its leafy surroundings. It rests beneath its horizontal orb, 

 where it is abundantly exposed to attack from above, but has straggling, 

 pyramidal retitelarian lines beneath it, which form some protection. It 

 dwells mostly in wooded places, or among shrubs and thick, leafy bushes. 

 Epeira gibbero.sa is also a brilliantly colored spider. Its industrial protec- 

 tion is more manifest, for it dwells beneath a sort of hammock or structure 

 of lines woven between the edges of a leaf. This hammock iirotects it 

 above, while the leaf affords good security from beneath (Volume I., page 

 154), and its green color completes the protection. 



Our three indigenous species of Acrosoma, viz., Rugosa, Spinea, and 

 Mitrata, are all, particularly the first two, well marked and brightly colored 

 . spiders. They are protected, Mitrata least conspicuously, by spin- 



Soecies '^"'^ processes, if such can be called protections. They live in the 

 centre of their orbs as a rule, and their webs are most frequently 

 found stretched between the trunks of young trees, in openings of groves, 

 woods, and like spots. They seem to me more directly exposed to assault 



