2J4 THE TROPICAL WORLD. 



on each side with scarlet, thus resembling the colours of the seeds 

 of the Abrus, so well known to children under the name of 

 ' black-a-moor beauties.' 



An exception to the general rule is, however, found in those 

 very large and powerful species which, if not rendered some- 

 what conspicuous to the sight of other insects, might do 

 too much damage to the tribes which they keep in check. 

 Most of these, therefore, have the thorax and abdomen margined 

 with a light colour that contrasts strongly with that of their 

 bodies, and, in many cases, gives timely warning of their 

 approach. 



The European spiders have generally a very repulsive ap- 

 pearance, while many of the tropical species are most splendidly 

 ornamented, or rather illuminated, many of them by the vivid- 

 ness of their colours resembling the gaudy missals painted by 

 monks in the Middle Ages. Thus, among the Epeiras of the 

 Philippine Islands, are found white figures on a red ground ; red, 

 yellow, and black, in alternate streaks ; orange marbled with 

 brown, light green with white occelli, yellow with light brown 

 festoons, or ash-coloured and chestnut bodies with crescents, 

 horse-shoes, Chinese characters, and grotesque hieroglyphics of 

 every description. Unfortunately, these colours, lustrous and 

 metallic as the feathers of the humming-bird, are, unlike the 

 bright colours of the beetle, totally dependent on the life of the 

 insect which they beautify, so that it is impossible to preserve 

 them. 



While most spiders obtain their food either by patiently wait- 

 ing in ambush or by catching it with a bound, the enormous 

 mygales, or trap-door spiders, run about with great speed in and 

 out, behind and around every object, searching for w4iat they 

 may devour, and from their size and rapid motions exciting the 

 horror of every stranger. Their body, which sometfmes attains 

 a length of three inches, while their legs embrace a circle 

 of half a foot in diameter, is covered all over with brown, 

 reddish brown, or black hair, which gives them a funereal 

 appearance, w^hile their long fangs armed with sharp hooks 

 proclaim at once what formidable antagonists they must be to 

 every insect that comes within their reach. Though some species 

 are found in Southern Europe, in Chili, or at the Cape, yet 

 they are chiefly inhabitants of the torrid zone, both in the old 



