BY W. J. RAINBOW. 331 



with their own. All shades of green, brown, and grey are found 

 among arboreal individuals. Mr. Arthur Lea gave me a number 

 of spiders collected by him both in the New England district and 

 at Queanbeyan, among which there are examples, not only 

 coloured like withered leaves, but some are green and marked 

 Avith mock-holes (as in Epe'ira ficta), and others with discoloured 

 patches on their surface, having the appearance of leaves attacked 

 by some insect (as in U. similai'is*). Quite a host of examples, 

 both of spiders and beetles, whose colouration is protective, may 

 be obtained by shaking a branch of any shrub over an inverted, 

 open umbrella. Among the species whose haunts are confined to 

 the ground, and those that ramble among rocks, the same rule 

 obtains, the former harmonising with the colour of the soil, while 

 the latter reflect not only the various tints of the rocks, but 

 frequently mimick the lichens growing upon them. 



Mr. C. M. Weed says that the Ash-Grey Harvest Spidei*, 

 Pldangmm cinereAnii, Weed, " is pre-eminently what may be called 

 an indoor species. It abounds especially in sheds, out-houses, 

 and neglected board piles, being rarely found ... in the 

 open field. Its colour especially fits it for crawling over weather- 

 beaten boards, making it inconspicuous against such a background. 

 During the day it is usually quiet, but at dusk and on cloudy 

 days it moves about quite rapidly."! 



Groverned by the law of natural selection, the tints of animals 

 frequently undergo certain modifications in order to suit them to 

 altered conditions of surroundingsj. In tracts of bush that have 

 been visited by fire, we find specimens so closely resembling the 



* Writing upon the subject of his observations at Pera, Mr. H. W. 

 Bates observes : — "The number of spiders ornamented with showy colours 

 was somewhat remarkable. Some double themselves up at the base of 

 leaf-stalks, so as to resemble flower-buds, and thus deceive tlie insects on 

 which they prey." "The Naturalist on the River Amazon," p. 64. 

 + " American Naturalist," xxvi. p. 33. 



X 8ee Wallace's " Tropical Nature," pp. 167-172, for some inteieeting 

 facts under this head ; also paper by Mr. R. Meldola, on " Variable Pro- 

 tective Colouring in Insects." Proc. Zool. Soc. Loud. 1873, p. 153. 



