1909.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 559 



seen to mate in captivity as many as 6 successive times, as the pair 

 <? 1500 x 9 1501 with copulation on 13, 20, 21 and 28 June, and 18 

 and 21 July; the same female has been seen to mate with two males, 

 and the same male with two females. In two instances females were 

 seen to copulate after making the first cocoon: thus 9 1519 mated 

 with c? 1518 on 20 and 21 June, cocooned 29 June, then mated with 

 c? 1519 A on 4 July; and 9 1521 mated with c? 1522 on 26, 27, and 

 30 June, cocooned 2 July, then mated again 23 July. This repetition 

 of copulation after oviposit ion is most unusual, for generally in spiders 

 the males die by the time the first cocoons are made. Equally unusual 

 is the fact that heavily pregnant females will receive males as late as 

 four and even two days before oviposition, whereas it is the rule that 

 pregnant females are extremely aggressive towards males (except in 

 Theridium). But we shall see a case in Geotrecha pinnata of copulation 

 during cocooning. Another unusual incident, though I have described 

 elsewhere similar occurrences in some other species, was that c? 1504 

 copulated with 9 1505 and she moulted a few hours afterwards. Early 

 in June males are quite as numerous as the females, and pairs are 

 frequently obtained in the same nest beneath a stone, but males 

 decrease in number during the summer, though I captured two as late 

 as 22 August. The first cT caught, No. 1500 on 13 June, was kept 

 continuously in a cage with 9 1501, and copulated with her six times 

 (the last time on 21 July), until 12 September; then I killed her, but 

 kept him, and he lived until the end of October. This longevity of a 

 male after the breeding season is without parallel in my experience. 

 In one case a male (1504) after copulating with a slightly smaller 

 female (1505) on 17 June, ate her on 25 June. This is a rare happening 

 among spiders, though McCook (/. c, Vol. II, p. 24) cites similar 

 instances in Epeirids and Agalenids. This male was, however, killed 

 and eaten by another female (1544) on 11 July, so was c? 1524 by a 

 gravid 9 1525, and c? 1502 by 9 1503 (after living together for nearly 

 a month). Five other males that were kept with females, and all of 

 which mated with them one or more times, died without being eaten 

 and with little or no evidence of injury; they seemed to have become 

 physically weakened, and one that I gently removed from his mate 

 to use for another experiment expired a few minutes after the removal. 

 Accordingly, in this species, where the males are about as large and 

 strong as the females, it is by no means the rule that the males end by 

 being eaten. The matings observed in captivity took place in almost 

 every instance outside of nests. 



Drassus neglectus (Keys). 



With regard to this species, common under stones in open fields 



