A very pretty illustration of alluring coloration is furnished by the common spider (_Misumena vatia_), which is often found spread out upon the yellow heart of an ox-eyed daisy and in like position upon Coreopsis (Plate V). It so closely resembles the flower upon which it lurks that the ordinary observer might well fail to notice its presence. The coloration facilitates the taking of prey and protects the creature from the assaults of enemies (Rev. H. C. McCook). It will be observed from the illustration that the flower is mostly yellow with some red; the same is true of the spider. This case is a very instructive illustration of alluring coloration by which the insect has become a living bait for entrapping butterflies and other insects. Nature has brought about this complete color adaptation, from the variations of myriads of spiders. For those ancestral spiders that varied most in the direction of color adaptation to their environment were less often shunned by shy insects which could serve as prey. The spiders with useful color variations would thus most likely secure an abundance of food, and, thus living, transmit to many of their offspring their useful variations; while those with inharmonious, and therefore harmful, variations would not be so able to deceive their food insects, and would thrive poorly or starve altogether. This is another illustration of the survival of the fittest, the selection by nature of those best adapted to or in harmony with the environment; in short, it is Natural Selection.