182 
COLOUR IN NATURE 
CHAP. 
Lepidoptera between white, yellow, and red pigments, 
but exact observations have still to be made. 
Sexual Coloration .—As to the colours of the sexes, 
the careful observations of Mr. and Mrs. Peckham 
have familiarised us with the fact that the males are 
not infrequently more brightly coloured than the 
females, the bright colours being especially marked 
on those regions of the body which are most fully 
displayed during the antics of courtship. The males 
are not, however, invariably brighter than the females. 
Thus in Nephila plumipes the male is dull brown and 
small, the female has a jet-black cephalothoracic 
region largely covered with silvery hairs, while the 
abdomen is an olive-brown colour tending to light 
yellow above and with yellow and white spots and 
stripes. The legs are yellow with dull red rings, 
several of the joints being furnished with plumose 
tufts. This is an interesting case, because if the 
colours and ornamental tufts had been present in the 
male, they would have been certainly ascribed to 
sexual selection. As it is, male spiders are asserted 
on all sides to prefer amiability to beauty, so that 
such an explanation is hardly valid. 
Markings of Spiders .—The last characteristic of 
the coloration of spiders which we must consider is 
the beauty and complexity of the markings. These 
markings tend especially to occur on the abdomen, 
where they are usually very complex ; the cephalo- 
thorax is usually more uniform, but the legs not in¬ 
frequently display bands of colour of a deeper tint 
than that of their ground-colour. The abdominal 
markings often take a leaf-like shape, as, for example, 
is well seen in the “ folia ” which give its specific 
