150 The Book of Bugs. 



and dances for each other. The Icins has regular 

 assembly balls, the men dancing in front of the women 

 and showing off their fancy steps. Every once in a while 

 there is a scrimmage at the lower end of the hall, and all 

 the fellows skate down there, and you'd think by the fuss 

 that there was nothing less than murder going on. The 

 women wring their hands and moan, ' Aint it awful? 

 It's jist disgraceful. If I'd 'a' knowed it was goin' to be 

 like this- Oo-ooh! did you see Riley paste him 



then? ' The young things cry and carry on, but the old 

 matrons fan themselves and gape and talk about their 

 rheumatism. They know that it is all got up to impress 

 them, and that nobody gets hurt. 



Phidippiis niorsitans is considered about the best danc- 

 ing species, and when the male rigs out and goes sparking 

 it is a sight to see. His first pair of legs is long, and he 

 waves them about and stretches them up in front of the 

 lady, as much as to say, " Hail, great queen! Sovereign 

 of my heart! ' They are white, plumy things and ought 

 to captivate her, first thing. But she sulks and sometimes 

 she makes a dive for him and he has to drop the ' l Hail, 

 great queen " business and take to the woods. But if he 

 once can get her to watch his dancing, her heart is his. 

 He stands up as high as he can on his four right legs 

 and crouches down as long as he can on his four left legs 

 and circles about, getting closer and closer to her. She 

 rushes at him. He retreats; he is coy. Then he changes 

 legs. He stands as high as he can on his left legs and 

 crouches on his right set. It is when he is going away 

 from her that the poor girl catches her breath in ecstasy 

 and literally stands on her head. After he has circled 

 about 120 times, she exclaims: ' Take me! I am yours." 



All spiders do not kill and eat their husbands. Liny- 

 phia live happily together in one web, and Dolomes 



