Thomisus decipiens Forbes, ! ) 



a spider supposed to imitate the excrement of birds, 

 bij Edw. Jacobson (Fort de Koek). 



With pi. 12. 



My first acquaintance with the group of spiders, which by 

 believers in the theory of mimicry is supposed to imitate 

 the excrement of birds, dates from November 191 1. 



I lived then at Semarang in Java where I had my residence 

 on the hills at an altitude of 60 metres above see-level. 

 Every afternoon on my return trom the office, I used to take 

 a round in my garden to collect insects or to observe their 

 habits. One day passing near a low palm-bush 1 noticed on 

 one of the leaves an object, which I took for the excrement 

 of a bird. A few days later coming along the same path the 

 object was there still, exactly on the same spot as before. 

 It struck me that the excrement was looking quite fresh, 

 although a violent rain-shower had come down on the 

 previous night. I therefore made a closer inspection and to 

 my great astonishment found the object to be a spider. The 

 likeness to a birds' excrement was so striking, that, in fact, 

 I did not realize the truth till I touched it. I am not able 

 to give the name of the species observed, as the specimen 

 was sent by me together with a large collection of other 

 spiders to Professor KULCZYNSKI at Krakau, for identification. 

 Since then I have not been able to trace the whereabouts 

 if this gentleman, probably he became a victim of the war 

 and my collection must have been lost. 



In April 19 1 7 I was on a collecting-trip at Sukamananti, 

 a small village in the Ophir Districts. The place is situated 



l ) Thomisus decipiens Forbes; Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1883, P- 5S6. 

 The Revd. O. P. Cambridge later called it: Ornithose atoides decipiens 

 (Forbes), Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1884, p. 198 et seq. The type-speci- 

 mens have been found in both Sumatra and Java. 



