40I 



NOTE ON A CURIOUS FACULTY IN SPIDERS. 



W. VV. STRICKLAND, B.A., 



Singapoyc. 



In June 1905 I was seated under a jujube tree, near a shady 

 lotus pond, in the Buitenzorg Gardens, Java, on a garden seat, 

 for the purpose of rest and reflection, wearing a bluish coat of 

 Madras cloth. All at once I noticed a comparatively large 

 species of Attida on the sleeve of my coat. The fore part of 

 the body was green, the abdomen brown, the eyes brown. 



It made itself at home, and I looked at it fixedly without 

 stirring a muscle. It had four or five eyes at the top of the 

 head, and two large giglamps lower down. 



All at once, to my surprise, I saw the gig-lamp eyes, which 

 had been green, change to brown. There was no bright 

 sunlight, and the proceeding was evidently under the control 

 of the spider's will. In fact, it repeated the process several 

 times with much deliberation ; it almost seemed to have a pride 

 in showing off. When the colour of the eye changed, it was as 

 though a veil descended quickly behind the cornea from the 

 outer upper side downwards. In this way it changed the 

 colour of its eyes from green to brown and from brown to 

 green several times. I now caught the spider, hoping to keep 

 it alive, and took it to Major Ouens at the Zoological Museum. 

 Unfortunately it had been crushed, and arrived moribund. 

 Major Ouens, a well-known Dutch field naturalist, put it under 

 the microscope, without any particular results, and afterwards 

 into a small tube with spirits. 



Some months later I called, and found to my regret that 

 Major Ouens, being very busy arranging the collection of shells, 

 had lost this interesting specimen. He had, indeed, tried, but 

 in vain, to get another from the gardens. 



I now went and sat for many hours in the same place, and 

 in the same dress, hoping that the same kind might perhaps 

 reappear. None came. There was, however, a smaller attida, 

 all green, but for some yellowish stripes on the abdomen. 

 Several of them came ; they had a relatively smaller pair of 

 gig-lamp eyes, jet-black. For several days nothing peculiar 

 was to be observed. At last one of these spiders, which were 

 not uncommon, came. It seemed in rather an agitated frame of 

 mind. All at once its two black gig-lamp eyes changed to a 

 bright green, it leapt on its prey, and disappeared. Ot this 

 extraordinary faculty in the Attida, Major Ouens knew nothing, 



1906 November i. 



