or give it a very inanimate appearance. It is rather common in
our neighborhood and may be caught in the late twilight while building
its web, but to search for it in the daytime, even among the trees
that it most frequents, is an almost hopeless task. A more grotesque
form is E. stellata, in which the abdomen has not two, but twelve or
fifteen humps. These are so disposed that the edge of the abdomen, all
around, is scalloped. The colors are light and dark brown, modified by
gray and white hairs. This spider remains motionless during the
daytime, keeping its legs drawn up to its body. It is common on grass
and low bushes. It is not found in Wisconsin, but the description of
it suggests a resemblance to a piece of dead leaf.

There are many other spiders in this genus that have humps and are
colored in brown, gray or dull yellow, as nordmanii, angulata,
solitaria, etc. It is an almost universal habit among the Epeiridae to
drop to the ground when threatened, and when a humped gray or brown
spider drops to the ground and draws in its legs it is nearly
indistinguishable from the lumps of earth, sticks and stones that
surround it.

One of the Therididae which has the same protection is Ulesanis
americana (Fig. 3). The abdomen, which covers the cephalothorax nearly
to the eyes, has a prominent hump in the middle of the back and four
or five others behind. Its color is in shades of brown and yellow.

[Illustration: FIG. 3.--ULESANIS AMERICANA (from Emerton).]

Analogous to the humped Epeiridae is Thomisus foka, of Madagascar, a
spider which is regarded with great terror by the natives, as being so
poisonous that even its breath is deadly. They say that cattle, when
about to lie down, look carefully about to see if one of these spiders
is in the neighborhood. This dread is, no doubt, inspired by the
strange and uncanny aspect of a perfectly harmless creature. It has a
rugose, tuberculated body of trapezoid form, the colors being brown
and reddish, while the whole aspect is crab-like. The thick, short
legs are reddish, covered with tubercules. The secret of its strange
form is made clear when we learn that it resembles in color and
general appearance the fruit of Hymenaea verrucosa, a tree common in
the forests where this spider is found.

Among the curious forms which must have been developed through
advantageous variations but which we are unable to explain, is
Eriauchenus workmanni (Fig. 4).

[Illustration: FIG. 4.--