E. JACOBSON, THOMISUS DECIPIENS FORBES. 1 87 



in the alluvial plain at the foot of Mount Ophir at an altitude 

 of 120 metres. When I was out shooting in the scrub-bush 

 round the village I saw on a leaf an object which at first 

 looked to me like the excrement of a bird. Its colour was 

 brown with darker and lighter spots, with a glabrous appea- 

 rance as if wet, and the wole was surrounded by a chalky 

 white patch, looking like the dried up moisture, which often 

 can be noticed surrounding birds' excrement. 



After my former experience I was, however, not so easily 

 deceived and, indeed, on further inspection the object turned 

 out to be a spider, but of quite a different species from the 

 one I had found 6 years before in Java. What I had taken 

 for dried up moisture was a pure white web of ver)- dense 

 texture of about half an inch in diameter adhering closely 

 to the surface of the leaf. This web, evidenti) - , assures a 

 firmer grip to the spider, sitting in the centre of the web 

 with its legs drawn close to its bod) - , as shown in fig. 1 

 (Plate 12). It did not stir, even when I detached the leaf 

 and took it home. There I put it on the table before me, 

 to watch its behaviour. 



Very soon I noticed that the spider had caught a fly and 

 after having sucked it dry, the bod)' was discarded over the 

 edge of the leaf. Three or four other flies were already 

 swarming round and crawling over the surface of the leaf, 

 and even over the bod)' of the spider. When one of them 

 came within reach the spider made a sail)- as quick as 

 lightning and seized the fly with- one of its fore-legs. When 

 still busy with its first victim another fi)- coming near was 

 caught with the other fore-leg and hugged to its body till 

 the first one was sucked out. 



As flies continued to swarm round the spider, I concluded 

 that they were apparently attracted by something. On closer 

 investigation I discovered that the spider gave off a very 

 perceptible smell, which could be compared almost to the 

 odor of urine, although it was not exactly the same. 



For some time I watched the spider catching several more 

 flies attracted by the smell. 



The species from Sukamananti proved to be Thomisus 

 decipiens FORBES. I owe the name to Mr. H. R. HOGG, who 



