XXX. INTRODUCTION. 



of the great mullein — Verbascum thapsus — to which the pale 

 yellowish hues of the spider are well suited for its concealment 

 in the yellow blossoms. An allied spider— Thomisus onustus, 

 "Walck.— found here, and in the neighbourhood of Wokingham, 

 on the heather blooms, and upon some other pink flowers, is 

 beautifully tinted with pink, chiefly in its younger and feebler 

 stages. The Eev. C. W. Penny (of Wellington College, Woking- 

 ham) tells me that he has found examples of this spider on 

 yollowish blossoms, and that these examples are gonerally of a 

 yellowish hue, quite devoid of the pink colour of those found on 

 pink blooms. I am inclined to think that this is not invariable, 

 inasmuch as I have found here the more mature examples (which 

 are generally devoid of pink colouring) also on the pink heather 

 blooms. The protective resemblance of colour would not be so 

 necessary, in the above instance, for the protection of the 

 more mature as for that of the younger spiders, and there- 

 fore we might expect to find the former on flowers of any 

 colour growing where the 6piders are found; while I have 

 certainly only met with the younger, pink-coloured spiders, 

 on the pink heather blossoms. Another Thomisid — Xydicus 

 salulosus, Hahn. — so exactly resembles both in form and colour 

 the little bits of grey, yellowish, black and red-brown mottled 

 stone found on the bare patches where turf has been pared off 

 on our heaths, that until the spider moves it is almost impossible 

 to detect it. Lycosa herbigrada, Blackw., a grey spider marked 

 with black and brown markings, is another instance of exact 

 adaptation to the grey sandy heaths where it occurs; while 

 Philodromus fallax, Sund., is equally well concealed by the perfect 

 adaptation of its colouring to the dull yellowish sandy spots 

 where alone it is met with. One of our common Epei'rids 



the beautiful JEpeira cucurbitim, Clerck. — found on rose and 



ofter bushes, in gardens and woods, is of a clear, bright, 

 green colour, with a brightish red spot at the hinder 

 extremity of the abdomen ; this spider, when (as it often does) 

 it sits tucked up between the green shoot and the axil of the 

 leaf, looks exactly like a young bud just ready to burst. 



