would be more likely to survive and propagate ; and by the 

 survival of the fittest they would continue in the struggle for 

 existence, while the darker varieties disappeared. 



I set out on Friday, nth February, at six o'clock in the 

 morning, for a stroll in the woods. The following are some of 

 the notes taken at the time. " I have just beaten into my 

 umbrella two curious insects, one of them allied to the Phasmidae 

 or walking-leaf insects, black in colour, 2 inches long, the abdo- 

 men terminated by a round knob. The other insect I thought 

 was one of the same class, but when I went to lift it, it emitted 

 a silken thread, and I saw to my great delight that I had cap- 

 tured one those curious spiders belonging to the genus Ariamnes, 

 first found by Doloschall in Java. I have got specimens of the 

 same genus from Madagascar, but I think they have not been 

 noted as having been found in South America.* This Spider 

 moves very cautiously, drawing the hinder half of the abdomen 

 along the ground. The abdomen and legs are of a light green 

 colour ; the cephalothorax is darker ; the body is rather more 

 than half an inch long ; the first pair of legs nearly as long 

 as the body. It was living in a long grass-like plant growing 

 on a species of laurel. Around me at the moment are numerous 

 curious and beautiful plants, many of which seem familiar to 

 me in greenhouses. At my feet is a plant with a banana-like 

 leaf, but on a long stalk ; in the centre of the plant the flower, of 

 a brilliant red, is shooting up. There is a cicada or some other 

 insect that goes on Ping-ing-ing-ing like a fine wire vibrating 

 and a liliputian triangle working at the same time ; there is also 

 another insect making a somewhat similar sound, but not so 

 mechanical or peculiar. Among the bushes I found an enormous 

 spider's nest, or spidarium, if I can so coin the word, as it was 

 the home of quite a large number of small and reddish brown 

 coloured spiders probably allied to our Linyphia, at least so I 

 think from the style of nest, a huge net resembling a bag, 3 feet 

 in diameter at the bottom and 6 or 7 feet high, not an ordinary 



* This is probably the Spider described by the Rev. O. P. Cambridge, M.A., in the 

 Proceedings of the Zoological Society, London, for June, 1881, under the name of 

 Ariamnes Attenuata, 



