s
structure with that of the Spider itself; but I allude to it now because
of the elegance of the creature, the _Epeira argentata_ of Fabricius.
The upper surface of the body is of a glistening satiny or silvery
whiteness, the belly yellow, spotted with black, and the legs marked
with alternate rings of the same contrasted hues.

In the same island I was familiar with another species, (_Nephila
clavipes_,) remarkable for the length and strength of its silken cords.
The body, which is lengthened, is studded with round white spots, each
encircled with a black border, on a rich greenish brown ground,
reminding one of the characteristic markings of the Tragopans among
birds. The cephalothorax is shining black, its lustre half concealed by
a clothing of short silvery down: the legs are very long, and have a
remarkably elegant appearance from having a bunch of black hair set
around the extremity of the first and second joints, like the bristles
of a bottle-brush.

I fortify my own verdict with the observations of a brother naturalist
on the Spiders of Borneo, presuming that those which he alludes to
appear to belong to the genus _Gastracantha_, of which I have seen
species in Jamaica.

"The spiders, so disgusting in appearance in many other countries, are
here of quite a different nature, and are the most beautiful of the
insect tribe; they have a skin of a shell-like texture, furnished with
curious processes, in some long, in others short, in some few, in others
numerous; but are found, of this description, only in thick woods and
shaded places: their colours are of every hue, brilliant and metallic as
the feathers of the humming-bird, but are, unlike the bright colours of
the beetle, totally dependent on the life of the insect which they
beautify, so that it is impossible to preserve them."[215]

It is possible that this beauty might be less evanescent if the animals
were preserved in spirit or other antiseptic fluid. A writer in the
_Zoologist_ (p. 5929) mentions the fact that the iridescence of certain
beetles (_Cassida_) which is peculiarly splendid and metallic, and which
disappears immediately on the insects' becoming dry, is perpetuated in
its original loveliness when the specimens are preserved in spirit, even
after the lapse of several years.

The tropical species of this genus are far finer and richer than our
little English kinds, though these are pretty. I was much delighted by
the brilliance of some of the