WOOING AND MATING. 



'^1 



reminded one of the bluster of two boys each threatening and daring the 

 other, and neither willing to be the aggressor. In a few minutes, liowevcr, 

 they both wandered away.^ 



Several males of a species of loins when placed within Ijoxos i)rovcd to 

 be very (piarrelsome, and had frequent fights, but were never found to be 

 injured. Indeed, after having watched hundreds of similar bat- 

 cms. ^]^_^ between the males of this and other species, Professor Peck- 

 Duels hum has reached the conclusion that they are sham affairs, gotten 

 up for the purpose of displaying before- the females, who com- 

 monly stand by, interested spectators. This harmless nature of the conflicts 

 of spider duelists is in accordance with my own observations, and also in 

 accord with the few statements that have been made by other observers. 

 The males of Dendryphantes capitatus are very quarrelsome — sparring 

 whenever they meet, chasing each other about, and sometimes 

 ^^ ^^' clinching. The Peckhams put eight or ten males into a box, 

 and they fought; and, although it seemed cruel spoi-t, it was 

 soon apparent that they were very prudent little fellows, and were fully 

 conscious that — 



" He who fights iind runs away 

 Will live to fight another day." 



Zyg-o- 

 ballus. 



In fact, after two weeks of hard fighting, the observers were unable to 

 discover one wounded warrior. When approaching for combat the males 

 hold the first legs up in a vertical direc- 

 tion. Sometimes they drop the body ujion 

 one side, as tiiey jump about each other. 

 These movements are very quick, and tliey 

 are always ready for a passage at arms.'-^ 

 Two males of Zygoballus bettini, while 

 executing a dance before a female, engaged 

 in a quarrel. They ran savage- 

 ly upon each other and fought 

 twenty-two minutes, during one 

 round remaining clinched for six minutes. 

 When fighting, the abdomen is held nearly at a right angle with the 

 cephalothorax. (Fig. 11.) The combatants appeared tired at the close of 

 the battle, but after a short rest were perfectly well and fought a number 

 of times subsequently.^ 



Several males and females of Philffius militaris were placed together 

 in a box. Among the males was a large fellow, who proved to be a 

 universal bully. In the course of time another male, almost his size, was 



Fig. 11. Position of two male Saltigrades, 

 Zygoballus bettini, when fighting. (After 

 Pecljbam.) 



1 Observations on Sexual Selection in Spiders of the Family Attidae. Occas. Paiiers Nat. 

 Hist. Soc. Wis., Vol. I., 1889, page 39. 



= Peckluuu, id., page 45. ^ Idem, [lage 48. 



