grey and black, and when crouching in the ascil of a bleached branch, it takes close observation to detect them, there being, in some instances, not only no perceptible difference in the shades of colour, but owing to the peculiar mottling and little irregular limbs on the abdomen, the rugose bark itself is closely imitated.

The generality of spiders found amongst burnt manuka, before it has become bleached, have the brownish-black colour of their environment, which causes them to be almost imperceptible at a very short distance.

On green manuka a greater variety of spiders are to be seen; the majority are of various shades of grey or brownish-grey, the legs marked with reddish-brown; green are occasionally met with; brown or greenish-brown spiders are not uncommon; variously marked with white, buff, purple, yellow, or reddish tints; colours which are all reproduced in the bark, young wood, fading leaves, and lichens. I recently met with a spider of special interest; it had an unusual purple tinge, and was covered with soft white hairs, which made it closely resemble the silky purple shoots of the Leptospermum on which I found it. Occasionally a spider of considerable interest will be met with amongst the capsules of the Leptospermum—which is a favourite resort—the abdomen has a rough uneven surface; the furrows formed by the peculiar arrangement of the impressed spots give it the appearance of being valvate; a dark grey penetrative tint appears beneath the outer and lighter one, which causes the abdomen to resemble a bloom-covered capsule. Although the spider only possesses four not very clearly-defined pseudo-valves, the deception is still very striking, and affords an interesting example how some of the wonderful cases of protective resemblance or mimicry may have arisen.

On the Cordyline australis small spiders are to be met with which not only assume the colour of the trunk, but, owing to their flat sometimes angular figures, and largely-developed tubercles, imitate the muricate bark. These spiders are difficult to detect when resting in the interstices of the bark.

If quite different plants are examined—rushes, for example—they will also be found to be frequented by specially-adapted forms; the most numerous is a species (Theraphosides) with a narrow cylindrical brownish-yellow abdomen, and long slender legs, which it extends in a manner that renders it hardly perceptible.

Many of our geometrical spiders frequent the furze (Ulex europœus), where they mostly take the tints of the decaying vegetation—which, owing to their habit of concealing themselves amongst the fading leaves and flowers, must be advantageous to them. The light brownish-yellow and

greenish-yellow resemble the faded leaves and puberulent sepals; the dark grey—especially when covered with whitish hairs—are not unlike the pods. Of the few brightly-coloured spiders we possess that may be considered to have protective colouring, one is to be met with amongst the leaf-spines and yellow blossoms, which harmonize well with its bright dark-green body and yellow and white tubercles; the latter might pass off for small flowerbuds. Little greenish-buff or light stone-coloured spiders, with pointed abdomens, will sometimes be mistaken for the buds, owing to their habit of crouching in the ascils of the leaf-spines.

Hedges of kangaroo acacia (Acacia armata) are inhabited by reddishbrown or greenish-brown spiders, according to the prevailing tints of the wood.

This autumn I found on the fading petals of a yellow dahlia a rather large dark-brown and orange-yellow spider, possessing such perfect assimilative hues, that by an untrained eye it was mistaken for a part of the blossom. This, however, is not an exceptional case, so accurately do the tints blend, and so adapted are their attitudes to their particular haunts that spiders are often undistinguishable at a few feet distance.

On fruit trees interesting forms are occasionally met with, although spiders are comparatively scarce, except in the winter and spring months, when they are inhabited by numerous young Epeirides, which are worthy of attention, for although many of them are very minute, the faculty of discerning the tints that correspond with their own seems fully developed. The little reddish spiders are, as a rule, on red-barked trees; the browns and greys in branches with similar hues. They also derive protection from the special form and colouring of the figure on the abdomen; the dull white spot on some of the smaller spiders is not unlike a scale insect; the heart-shaped pattern on the larger spiders is by no means a bad imitation of a bud covered with greyish tomentum. Crouched on the diseased boughs of pear trees small spiders will sometimes be found possessing the colouring of the blighted bark and lichens. Amongst other naturalized plants, interesting examples are to be found on the Coniferæ and Eucalypti.

The beautiful little quasi-parasitic spiders found on the webs of the large Epeirids, owing to their silvery hemispherical abdomens and habit of suspending themselves by their slender legs, may possibly derive some protection through being mistaken for dew-drops. They fall to the ground when threatened.

The majority of terrestrial spiders are earth-coloured and other dull tints; many of them have one or more bands of a different shade or colour, which, no doubt, from their habit of hunting amongst herbage and exfoliate bark, yield them the same protection as similar stripes do many of the

higher forms of life. The numerous Lycosidæ are mostly of sombre colours, well adapted to their habits and haunts. Amongst the jumping spiders (Salticides) the colouring ranges from earthy tints to a whitish-yellow. The brighter tints, if seen in captivity, would be pronounced conspicuous; but in their natural haunts their straw-coloured oblong-oviform figures match so well the dried clúmps and leaves of grass, etc., that it taxes the collector's eyesight to follow them as they jump and run through the low vegetation. One small earth-coloured species affects loose earth, where it is not easily observed unless carefully searched for; another species, living apparently in small communities, inhabits dry banks: it is a light brown. Of one species (Thomisides) that hunts amongst the leaves of low plants, the cephalothorax is brown, the cylindrical abdomen pea-green, resembling a bud. The Drassidæ that live under decayed débris, water-ditches, etc., have earthy and other dull tints. In giving these examples of dull colouring, I do not mean to assert that they are entirely due to protective influences. There is one point of interest in regard to protective colouring, especially dull tints, that is, the comparative powers between our own vision and that of the spiders' enemies—especially birds—for many of the so-called dull tints of our unaided vision are by no means so under a lens of low power.

The assimilation of hues between spiders and their environment is often increased by the specific pattern, formed by dashes of colour which match the brighter tints of the vegetation they frequent. It is not unusual to find the tubercles apparently overgrown with minute lichens. The pattern on the abdomen sometimes has the form and colour of a lichen (Parmelia); which tends to give the abdomen, when seen in a favourable position, the appearance of a lichen-grown knot. Very good specimens are to be found under tufts of Usnea on old fences or trees. The most wonderful example of protective resemblance that I have met with, was a light-brown spider,—abdomen 10 mm. long,—the specific pattern, glaucous-white, 8 mm. long, took the perfect form of a lobulate thallus, which was only attached to the abdomen by its base, close to the pedicle. For nine years I have searched in vain for a similar specimen; no spider was ever met with which had the pattern detached to any extent from the integument.

It may be of interest to mention that, when black forms distinctive marks on the abdomen, it always has the form of patches, bands, or little irregular lines which pick out the lighter tints, causing the integument often to resemble rugose bark,—it never (?) imitates foliaceous lichens; such mottling is composed of lichen colours—i.e., the prevailing tints of the foliaceous lichens growing about the haunts of the spider.

The special adaptation of form and colouring to the particular conditions of life, is a matter of great interest; and the more animal-colouration is