62 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



influence of general habit, naturally suppose that the method of union 

 would be a compromise between the two already described. So we find it. 

 Among the Tubeweavers the mating occurs within the tube, into which 

 the male penetrates. The bodies come into close contact, and the female 

 remains in a state of absolute quietude. 



Second, the differences in mating habit among Sedentary spiders are 

 characterized and evidently modified by the characteristic differences in 

 their snares. 



1. With Orb weavers making a vertical web the male approaches from 

 the under side of the female's body, applying the palps in that position, 



clinging meantime to the female. Sometimes, though probably 

 g . . rarely, the male hangs on the opposite side of the round snare, 

 Habit. '^^^'^^ from this position applies the palps througli the open 



meshes, or tlirough the free zone, clinging the meantime to the 

 web, as in the case of Epeira sclopetaria. 



2. Orbweavers making a horizontal snare, and probably all making 

 composite snares, as Epeira labyrinthea, etc., mate upon the snare, hang- 

 ing to the crossed lines, back downward ; the male above, and face up- 

 ward; the female beneath, with face upward. In other words, in the case 

 of both these groups of the one tribe the mating occurs while the spiders 

 are in the positions most natural to them during their hours of capturing 

 prey — the one maintaining the vertical position, and the other the hori- 

 zontal. 



Third, the Lineweavers assume precisely the same attitude during court- 

 ship that is observed by Orbweavers which make horizontal orbs, and, 

 probably, by those which have a retitelarian annex, like the Labyrinth 

 spider. Here the common habit in the two separated groups has operated 

 to produce a common habit in the act of mating, for the Orbweavers with 

 horizontal snares habitually hang back downward upon their webs, just as 

 do the Lineweavers. 



Fourth, in the proportion that spiders come directly in contact with 

 each otlier during mating without the aid of a snare, does the disparity 

 in size between the two sexes seem to disappear. Among Tubeweavers the 

 male is generally equal, and sometimes superior, in size to the female. 

 The same rule applies to the various genera of the Wandering tribes. The 

 fact of direct contact would seem at once to suggest the necessity of equal- 

 ity in size between the sexes, or a greater degree of complacency on the 

 part of the female. One is not able to speak concerning the latter factor, 

 but certainly the former seems to be reasonably well established. 



It is perhaps worth noticing that the greatest disparity in size between 

 the sexes is seen among Orbweavers, and the larger the species, as repre- 

 sented by the female, the smaller does the male become. In the smaller 

 species of Orbweavers the difference between the sexes is not so great, and, 

 indeed, is often scarcely noticeable. 



