1110 Marvels of the Universe 
That these monkeys should thus harmonize with their surroundings cannot be regarded as a 
very surprising, although undoubtedly a very interesting, fact. The real difficulty, as in so many 
analogous cases, occurs in connection with the intermediate colour-grades between this species 
and its sable relative of the West Coast. So far as we know, their colouring is not specially 
protective, and it is impossible to imagine that they represent the intermediate stages in a kind of 
blind natural selection culminating in the white-tailed species. 
SPIDERS’ EGG-BAGS 
In addition to the net-like snares and household tubes spun by spiders, there is another form of 
weaving adopted by some of them for the 
protection of their batch of eggs. These 
are in many cases closely-woven tissues; and 
each of the groups into which the Spider 
family is divided has its own special pattern 
of cocoon. Some of these are quite familiar 
objects in the angles of board fences; but 
others, though tolerably common, are only 
evident to the eyes of a naturalist. Such, 
for example, is the egg-cocoon of the Wolf 
Spider, a spherical affair about the size of 
a pea. This spider, being a nomad, has no 
home, and apparently cannot trust herself to 
leave her precious eggs where she may not 
be able to find them again. So she carries 
them constantly about with her, either 
holding the cocoon in front of her or 
attached to her under-side. It then looks 
like a part of her body, and is generally 
accepted as such, except by those who 
know her habits. If she is deprived of 
itt, GH is manifestly much _ distressed, 
and appears to show great relief when it 
is restored to her. 
When the eggs hatch and the young 
spiders emerge from the cocoon, they mount 
to the mother’s back and there crowd together 
[By F. Enock, F.L.S. 
THE WINGS HALF-FOLDED. 
The front portion of the wing is now packed up so tightly 
that only a small part remains flat. The wide-open pincers are for about a week, when they disperse and 
brought into use to fold this portion. : 
each sets out upon a separate hunting 
career. The illustration of Pardosa on page 1115 shows the young spiders crowded on the parental 
back. Until their dispersal they take no food. They do not merely walk off in different 
directions ; this would probably result in many of them remaining so near their parent that in 
hunting they would compete with her. Instead, each diminutive spider scrambles up the nearest 
plant to the highest point, and then, standing on tip-toe, with the hind-body raised in the air, 
it pays out from its spinnerets a long filament of gossamer which floats out on the slightest air- 
current ; and when a sufficient length of it is afloat the little spider lets go his foothold, and, hauling 
in a little of the gossamer, sails off at the end of it. In this way they are often carried to great 
heights and to long distances horizontally, so that the chances are that they never again meet with 
the parent who was so solicitous about them whilst they were as yet only eggs. 
