82 PEGKHAM. [Vol. 1, 



but the description of it suggests a resemblance to a piece of 

 dead leaf. 



There are many other spiders in this genus that have 

 humps and are colored in brown, gray or dull yellow, as nord- 

 manii, angulata, solitaria, etc. It is an almost universal habit 

 among the Epeiridse to drop to the ground when threatened, 

 and when a humped gray or brown spider drops to the ground 

 and draws in its legs it is nearly indistinguishable from the 

 lumps of earth, sticks and stones that surround it. 



One of the Therididte which has the 

 same protection is Ulesanis americana* 

 (fig. 5). The abdomen, which covers 

 the cephalothorax nearly to the eyes, 

 has a prominent hump in the middle 

 of the back and four or five others 

 behind. Its color is in shades of brown 

 and yellow. 



Analogous to the humped Epeiridse 

 is Thomisus foka, of Madagascar, a spider which is regarded 

 witli great terror by the natives, as being so poisonous that even 

 its breath is deadly. They say that cattle, when about to lie down, 

 look carefully about to see if one of these spiders is in the neigh- 

 borhood. This dread is, no doubt, inspired by the strange and 

 uncanny aspect of a perfectly harmless creature. It has a 

 rugose, tuberculated bo^y of trapezoid form, the colors being 

 brown and reddish, while the whole aspect is crab-like. The 

 thick, short legs are reddish, covered wnth tubercules. The 

 secret of its strange form is made clear when we learn that it 

 resembles in color and general appearance the fruit of Hym- 

 encea verrucosa, a tree common in the forests where this spider 

 is found. X 



Among the curious forms which must have been developed 



* This species, Einerton says, looks lilce a seed or a lump of earth. 

 ; Vinson, loc. vil., pp. 70-71 . 



