CONTINUED. 335 



the under-surface of the leaves. I observed another 

 species, which knew it was being watched, place itself 

 upon a diseased leaf, where it remained quite stationary 

 until after I had taken my departure ; and had I not seen 

 the sidelong movement of the cunning little creature, in 

 the first instance, I should not have been able to distin- 

 guish its body from the eroded surface of the leaf. Those 

 that live among the foliage and flowers, are vividly 

 coloured, and many flies and other insects are, no doubt, 

 attracted towards these Spiders, by reason of their 

 gaudily-tinted bodies. I have seen the abdomen of one 

 marked with lilac, yellow, and crimson, three powerfully 

 contrasted colours. Others are green, and actually reti- 

 culated, like the veined surface of a leaf, with the mid- 

 rib running down the centre, and the secondary nervures 

 proceeding outwards from each side ; the bodies of others 

 resemble the splendid variegated blossoms of the sorts of 

 Calceolarias, grown in our gardens. 



Several timid, soft, retiring, long-legged Pholci, with 

 fawn-coloured bodies, and semi-transparent red-brown 

 legs, covered with long hairs, formed large, loose webs 

 among the rotten wood and leaves that strewed the 

 ground. The legs of these arachnidans appear too weak 

 to support their bodies in running; therefore they resemble 

 their aquatic marine analogues, the Pycnogonidce, which 

 remain stationary among the tangled and thread-like 

 Keratophytes, which constitute the webs of those spider- 

 like Crustaceans, and thus watch cautiously their prey ; 

 and when it is caught in the toils, consume it at their 

 leisure, thus making up by cunning and persevering 

 watching for the want of that strength and force 



