82 SPIDERS [CH. 



the red chamber under these circumstances while the 

 least attractive colour seems to be blue. 



It has been known for a long time that the males 

 of many kinds of birds and especially of the more 

 ornamental species are accustomed to perform the 

 most extraordinary antics in the presence of the 

 female at the time of mating. The Peckhams made 

 the unexpected discovery that precisely similar 

 " love dances " took place in the case of the jumping 

 spiders. Even the comparatively sober-coloured 

 "zebra spider" performs a weird pas seal in courting 

 its mate, but its display is feeble compared with that 

 of some of the more ornate of the Attidae. 



Certain isolated observations on captive jumping 

 spiders led these observers to suspect that the 

 mating habits were unusual and worthy of accurate 

 investigation, and they laid their plans accordingly, 

 taking their summer holiday a month earlier than 

 usual, so as to miss nothing of the pairing season, 

 and including in their party an artist whose drawings 

 should furnish an indubitable record of the attitudes 

 assumed by the male spiders in their evolutions. 



On arriving at their destination they found a 

 small species, Saitis pulex, with no great claims to 

 remarkable beauty, mature, and ready to pair. A 

 female was placed in one of the experimental boxes 

 which had been provided in advance, and a male was 

 admitted on the following day. He sighted her at 



