BY W. .7. RAINBOW. 333 



waiineri. Atlas vo!ane,Cavah.,on the other hand, redisplays all its 

 brilliancy when taken out of the tube and the spirit has evaporated 

 from its body. 



The long attenuated bodies of the Tetragnatha, of which T. 

 ci/lindrica, Koch, and T. lupata, Koch, each found in the vicinity 

 of Sydney, are admirably adapted for concealment. These 

 spiders when alarmed seek refuge upon the stems or branchlets of 

 shrubs, and so closely do their tints agree with their surround- 

 ings that detection is exceedingly difficult. Epe'ira higginsii, 

 described and figured by Koch, and recorded by that eminent 

 author from Darling Downs, but whose range extends far south 

 of Sydney, is a singularly interesting example as far as its 

 form is concerned; but in addition to that, its colouration and 

 powers of mimicry are admirably adapted as a shield and protec- 

 tion. When disturbed it runs out of its snare to one of the 

 supporting lines or guys, and there remains suspended, with its 

 legs doubled up, the exact imitation, both in form and colour, of 

 an autumn leaf. Writing to me upon the subject of protective 

 colouration in spiders, my esteemed correspondent and contem- 

 porary, H. R. Hogg, Esq., M.A., of Cheniston, Upper Macedon, 

 Victoria, says :— " With regard to the protective colouring of 

 spiders, I have frequently been asked if they have not sometimes 

 the power of changing colour like chameleons in accordance with 

 their surroundings. I must confess that all I have seen tends to 

 show exactly the opposite, and that while many, if not most, are 

 paler in their earlier stages, they get darker as they grow older. 

 This is especially noticeable in laterigrades. The colouring matter 

 of spiders, both in skins and hairs, is of a particularly lasting 

 character, and even in spirits takes a long time to fade,* so that 

 it would probably take a good many generations to alter the 

 generally characteristic colouring of different species so as to 

 conform to particular soils or vegetation. At the same time I 



» I have spirited numerous specimens of E. wagneri, and not one 

 retained its bright green and yellow colours two or three hours after 

 emersion. — W.J.R. 



