74 Journal New York Entomological Society. [Voi. v. 
those qualities by natural selection, just as the spider itself would grad¬ 
ually, and probably pari passu , become, under the influence of the same 
law, and more and more like the solid portion.” And further, in a foot 
note on p. 121 : “Is not this exactness probably the result of the un¬ 
consciousness of the spider ? Conscious-design would possibly have re¬ 
sulted in a failure and abandoning the plan, or at least in a more clumsy 
imitation.” * 
To a great many naturalists it would appear as though if conscious¬ 
ness were present at all it would first exhibit itself in protecting life and 
afterwards in sustaining it. Without life food would be unnecessary, 
and the same consciousness that would lead the spider to take certain 
precautions to sustain life would impel it to take other or, perhaps, the 
same precautions to protect its life. The earlier attempts might be 
crude, but so long as they obscured the spider from the equally crude 
vision of either foe or victim, it would suffice. Of course, if it should be 
found that these species of spiders are inedible, then the whole effect of the 
deception would be to aid in sustaining life, but this is yet to be shown. 
Besides, it does not appear impossible that a kind of obscure and lim¬ 
ited consciousness may have developed, springing, perhaps, from in¬ 
herited instincts sufficient to enable these spiders and various species of 
insects to take advantage of action or movements, in order to protect 
their lives and perpetuate their species, but not extending beyond this 
point in development. 
When, in the earliest development of animal life on the globe, one 
form or individual began to prey upon another, then self-preservation 
became necessary, and death a catastrophe to be feared and avoided. 
We would, here, have the first fear-incited efforts put forth to escape 
destruction by flight—the first impulse that seizes even man at the pres¬ 
ent day, when suddenly exposed to impending danger. The next effort, 
usually put forth by an organism, is to hide or secrete itself from a 
danger that, perhaps, cannot be avoided by flight. The second of these 
efforts, it is possible, might have followed the first very rapidly in 
time of development, and, later on, as the struggle for life became more 
severe between different forms, concealment for the purpose of surpris¬ 
ing and capturing prey might have developed, and still later, the at¬ 
tempt at defense on the part of the form pursued, would lead to trials 
of strength between the attacking organism and the organism attacked, 
*These isolated observations give us no data whereby to judge to what extent 
individual spiders vary from each other in their architecture, or to what extent, if 
any, the young profits by imitating its parents. 
