Xysticus (p. 30) is flat, with short legs, and marked with gray and brown, like bark and stones. Misumena (p. 25) is white or brightly colored. The first and second legs are much longer than the third and fourth, and there is great difference between the sexes, the females being large and light colored, while the males are small, and yellow or green, with red and brown markings. Philodromus (p. 35) is generally small, with long slender legs, the second pair longest. The colors are generally light gray and brown, sometimes with iridescent scales. Besides the larger genera are several other spiders belonging to this family. _Tmarus caudatus_ (p. 38) resembles Philodromus in color and outline, but has besides the caudate abdomen a very different head and thorax, and the hind legs much shorter than the first and second. _Ebo latithorax_ (p. 38) is a small Philodromus, with a wide body and exaggerated second legs. _Thanatus lycosoides_ (p. 40) is like a stout Philodromus, with rough hairs and markings, resembling some Lycosidæ. _Tibellus duttonii_ (p. 39) is a long straw-colored spider, resembling Philodromus in its feet and head, but having a long slender abdomen, with two black spots. THE GENUS MISUMENA [Illustration: FIG. 75. Misumena aleatoria.--Natural size, among flowers of thoroughwort, holding a fly in her mouth.] The Misumenas are the most conspicuous spiders of their family, and are among the few that are popularly noticed. They grow to a large size and are white or brightly colored, and live in open places on flowers. The males and females differ widely. The males mature early and remain small, and are marked with a variety of colors in spots and bands, while the females grow several times as large, lose in great part their markings, and become white or yellow. In both sexes the two front pairs of legs are much longer than the two hinder pairs, and often differently colored. In the young the colors are variable and there is less difference between the sexes. The Misumenas live on plants, among the flowers, especially on large flat clusters, like those of carrot and thoroughwort. They stand among the flowers, holding by the hind legs, with the front legs extended or bent in stiff and awkward positions, and wait for insects to alight on the flowers within their reach. Whether spiders prefer flowers colored like themselves is an unsettled question; at any rate, Misumenas of all colors and both sexes have been found on white flowers. Occasionally individuals are found on flowers of exactly the same color as themselves; for example, deep yellow _M. aleatoria_ on the wild indigo, _Baptisia tinctoria_, and the reddish _M. asperata_ on the flowers of sorrel, _Rumex acetosella_. The adult females of _vatia_ and _aleatoria_ are easily mistaken for each other. Both vary in color from white to deep yellow, and grow to a large size, but they can be distinguished by the difference in the shape of the head. _Asperata_ is