66 4 



DIFFERENCE OF SEXES. 



The color is quite different in the two sexes. The female is rather prettily marked 

 with brownish chocolate upon a ground color of reddish yellow, while the male is deep 

 black-brown, with a curious scribbled pattern of a paler hue along the back. The 

 specific name of " dispar," or unlike, is given to the spider on account of this dissimilarity. 

 It is worthy of notice, however, that in the immature state the colors are alike in both 

 sexes. The reader will doubtlessly remember that this is the case with many birds, and 

 that even when the adult male glows with all the hues of the rainbow and the adult 

 female wears a mere dress of sober brown, black, and gray, the young birds are so 

 similar in their plumage that it is hardly possible to distinguish one sex from another. 



In the species represented at fig. D the two sexes are colored in nearly the same 

 manner, and the male is chiefly to be distinguished from his mate by the smaller 

 extremities of the palpi. 



Our last example of this genus, drawn at fig. E, is a small but rather pretty species, 

 in which the male is rather smaller and slightly darker than the female. The cocoon of 





A. PhUSdrontus dispar. (Male.) B. Sparasstw smaritgdulus C. PhilSdromus dispar. (Female.) 



D. PhMdrom-us oblongus. E. PhiUdromus pallidus. 



this species is slightly made, and white in color, and contains a large number of little 

 spherical eggs, not adhering to each other. The color is pale grayish brown, profusely 

 speckled with tiny black dots, and marked in a very peculiar manner with dark choco- 

 late-brown. On the upper part of the cephalothorax there is a large and nearly 

 triangular patch of this color, with a point directed towards the tail, and around it 

 are arranged several short streaks all converging towards its point. At the end of the 

 abdomen a number of similar stripes are drawn, but without the triangular patch. 



At fig. B is given a specimen belonging to another genus, and being a certainly 

 remarkable insect. The sexes are wonderfully dissimilar, but instead of one sex being 

 brilliantly colored, and the other only tinted with dull hues, as is mostly the case, both 

 sexes are equally beautiful, though with boldly contrasting colors. This difference of 

 hue is only in the adult spider, as, when immature, the male and female are colored alike. 



