STRATAGEMS OF SPIDERS 293 



Other aranese, to whom these means of defence have been 

 denied, are enabled by their colour to escape the attacks of many 

 enemies, or to deceive the vigilance of many of their victims. 

 Thus, those that spend their lives among the flowers and foliage 

 of the trees are, in general, delicately and beautifully marked 

 with green, orange, black, and j^ellow, while those which fre- 

 quent gloomy places are clothed with a dark-coloured and 

 dingy garb, in accordance with their habits. In the forests 

 about Calderas, in the Philippine Archipelago, Mr. Adams saw 

 handsomely coloured species of theridia crouching among the 

 foliage of the trees: while numbers of the same genus of a 

 black colour were running actively about among the dry dead 

 leaves that strewed the ground, looking, at a little distance, like 

 odd-shaped ants, and no doubt deceiving many an antago- 

 nist by this appearance. One species, which knew it was being 

 watched, placed itself upon a diseased leaf, where it remained 

 quite stationary until after the departure of the naturalist, who, 

 had he not seen the sidelong movement of the cunning little 

 creature in the first instance, would not have been able to dis- 

 tinguish its body from the surface of the leaf. While, in this 

 case, dulness of colour served as a defence, the vividly-coloured 

 spiders that live among the foliage and flowers no doubt attract 

 many flies and insects by reason of their gaudily-tinted bodies. 



One of the most remarkable instances of the harmony of 

 colour between the aranese and their usual haunts was noticed 

 by Mr. Adams among dense thickets formed by the Abrus pre- 

 catoria, where he found a spider with a black abdomen marked 

 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 



