B74 ARACHNIDA—ARANEAE CHAP. 
stripes on the abdomen are white, according remarkably with the 
irregular white markings so frequent on the petals of Veriwm.” 
The same observer, approaching a bush of the yellow-flowered 
Senecio pubigera, noticed that two of the numerous butterflies 
settled upon it did not fly away with their companions. Hach 
of these he found to be in the clutches of a spider, whose remark- 
able resemblance to the flower lay not only in its colour, but in 
the attitude it assumed. “ Holding on to the flower-stalk by the 
two hinder pairs of legs, it extended the two long front pairs 
upward and laterally. In this position it was scarcely possible 
to believe that it was not a flower seen in profile, the rounded 
abdomen representing the central mass of florets, and the extended 
legs the ray florets; while, to complete the illusion, the femora of 
the front pair of legs, adpressed to the thorax, have each a longi- 
tudinal red stripe which represents the ferruginous stripe on the 
sepals of the flower.” 
Cambridge found in Palestine some species of Thomisidae 
which, when at rest, were indistinguishable from bits of coarse 
fleecy wool, or the rough seeds of some plant. 
There is perhaps no more curious case of mimicry than that 
of a spider, Phrynarachne ( = Ornithoscatoides) decipiens, which 
Forbes discovered in Java while butterfly-hunting, It appears 
that butterflies of the Family Hesperidae have a custom of settling, 
for reasons best known to themselves, upon the excreta of birds, 
dropped upon a leaf. Forbes noticed one in this position. Creep- 
ing up, he seized the butterfly, but found it mysteriously glued by 
the feet. On further investigation the “excreta” proved to be a 
spider. So accurate was the mimicry that he was again completely 
deceived by the same species in Sumatra. Its habit is to weave 
upon a leaf a small white patch of web, of a shape which greatly 
assists the deception, and in the midst of this it les on its back, 
holding on by the spines with which its legs are furnished. It 
then folds its legs over its thorax, and waits for some insect to: 
settle upon it. 
In rare cases spiders have come to resemble their enemies the 
Ichneumon flies. A frequent habit of these insects is to deposit 
their eggs in the newly-formed cocoon of the spider. The 
Ichneumon eggs are the first to hatch, and the larvae have a 
convenient food-supply at hand. Sometimes, however, they adopt 
another method, and insert their eggs into the body of the spider 
