HABITS OF SPIDERS. 501 



from a lofty tree, and, when taken, contracted its members 

 and simulated death. The nests of these spiders are as 

 extraordinary in form as the bodies of the spiders them- 

 selves, which, in numerous instances, they very much 

 resemble. 



The section of Epeira with lobed abdomens, named 

 Argyropes, build beautiful webs in every part of the forest. 

 Some of them are very handsome spiders, shining with 

 gold and silver, and ornamented with elegant patterns of 

 crimson and yellow. A species of Plialangium, with 

 long legs of exceeding tenuity, may be frequently seen 

 hanging by its feet to the under surface of leaves, and 

 vibrating its body so rapidly, as to be at times undistin- 

 guishable to the eye. Nephilce of enormous size spread 

 their large nets very low in shady thickets, so that a man 

 in penetrating the forest will become entangled and more 

 annoyed by a spider's web than he will readily allow. It is 

 a fact constantly brought before the notice of the observer, 

 that those species of spiders that live on the bark of trees 

 are mottled grey and brown, and those which you find 

 upon the ground are altogether black or dingy-coloured; 

 while those living among flowers have beautifully varie- 

 gated bodies. How admirably, in these examples, is 

 shown the fitness of things, maintained even between 

 organisms usually deemed so abject, and the domains 

 they owe to ever-careful Nature ! It matters not much 

 whether we say the place determines the nature of the 

 animal, or whether the animal is adapted to the place, 

 although perhaps it is more pleasing to an observer of 

 nature to trace the harmonies and adaptations to an Intel- 



