By means of their monstrous webs many giant-spiders of the tropical zone are enabled to entangle not only the largest butterflies and moths, but even small birds. Some Mexican species extend such strong nets across the pathways, that they strike off the hat of the passer-by; in Senegal spiders spin threads so strong as to be able to bear a weight of several ounces, and in the forests of Java, Sir George Staunton saw spider-webs of so strong a texture that it required a sharp knife to cut one’s way through them; and many other similar examples might be mentioned. These large spiders so temptingly suspended in mid-air in the forest glades, seem very much exposed to the attacks of birds, but in many cases it has pleased Nature to invest them with large angular spines sticking out of their bodies in every kind of fashion. Some are so protected by these long prickles that their bodies resemble a miniature ‘chevaux de frise,’ and could not by any possibility be swallowed by a bird without producing a very unpleasant sensation in his throat. One very remarkable species (_Gasteracantha arcuata_) has two enormous recurved conical spines, proceeding upwards from the posterior part of the body, and several times longer than the entire spider. Other Araneæ, to whom these means of defence have been denied, are enabled by their colour to escape the attacks of many enemies, or to deceive the vigilance of many of their victims. Thus, those that spend their lives among the flowers and foliage of the trees are, in general, delicately and beautifully marked with green, orange, black, and yellow, while those which frequent gloomy places are clothed with a dark-coloured and dingy garb, in accordance with their habits. In the forests about Calderas, in the Philippine Archipelago, Mr. Adams saw handsomely coloured species of Theridia crouching among the foliage of the trees: while numbers of the same genus of a black colour were running actively about among the dry dead leaves that strewed the ground, looking, at a little distance, like odd-shaped ants, and no doubt deceiving many an antagonist by this appearance. One species, which knew it was being watched, placed itself upon a diseased leaf, where it remained quite stationary until after the departure of the naturalist, who, had he not seen the sidelong movement of the cunning little creature in the first instance, would not have been able to distinguish its body from the surface of the leaf. While, in this case, dulness of colour served as a defence, the vividly-coloured spiders that live among the foliage and flowers no doubt attract many flies and insects by reason of their gaudily-tinted bodies.