PAIRING OP SPIDERS. 43 



In the meanwhile the second bulb remained upon the other tube until 

 the first bulb began to descend, when it in turn was elevated and the 

 same motion made. As the bv;lb descended, its sac began to inflate and 

 issue. This process was quite regularly repeated. Sometimes, however, 

 both bulbs were clinched upon the falces at the same time; sometimes the 

 movements of the bulb were more rapid than at others. The bulbs had 

 the appearance of having been moistened by some secretion, presenting 

 the peculiar gloss which a colorless liquid gives to a black surface, but I 

 could see no secretion otherwise, although I was able at any time to use 

 my pocket lens with the exercise of a little care.^ 



At twenty minutes before six o'clock I was compelled to leave, at which 

 time the pair had been in embrace one hour and forty-nine minutes. At 

 six o'clock twenty-eight minutes I returned, and found the pair in 

 ^"° . precisely the same positions. I remained five minutes, and then 

 left an intelligent young man at the post, with full instructions as 

 to points of observation. He reported that at thirteen and a half minutes 

 past seven, afternoon, the pair parted suddenly. The male ran down to the 

 lower margin of the dome, pursued by the female, who stopped suddenly 

 just above, and turned back to the central point in the summit. Shortly 

 after receiving this report I visited tlie web, and found the female sus- 

 pended motionless in this position, and the male at the point to which he 

 had fled, feeding upon a small fly. The next morning at seven o'clock the 

 female was in the same position, and the male had disappeared. I attempted 

 to capture the female, but she ran among the boards and escaped. The pair 

 had thus been in union two hours and fifty-five and a half minutes. 



During this period they were separated a number of times. Nineteen 

 of these interruptions were noted ; one was caused by a small fly striking 

 the snare, at which the male darted in a fierce manner, but 

 Interrup- failed to seize, as the fly broke loose before he reached it. Others 

 tions and ^,^^^ caused by the observer touching the foundation threads or 

 tions other parts of the web. Toward the close of my observations I 



accidentally broke the suspending lines nearest me, and caused 

 one side of the dome to fall in. This made only a momentary interrup- 

 tion. Many of these separations were, however, apparently without any 

 extraneous cause. 



Twice the male ran to one side of the domed snare, made a web at- 

 tachment to a bit of leaf hanging therein, drew out a thread about two 

 and a half inches long, which he overlaid a couple of times, and then 

 made the following motion : First, the body was placed erect, that is, back 

 upwards, and was moved back and forth along the line, rubbing the points 

 or "nippers" of the palps at the same time; then the spider swung over 



» I did not at the time suspect that the palpal bulb might have been applied to the ab- 

 dominal organ of the male, and did not look for this act. But subsequently I have imagined 

 that such might have been the case. 



