36 



AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



Emerton, in his chapter on the growtli of spiders,^ presents some inter- 

 esting facts upon pairing. Two of tliese, tlie pairing of Linyphia and Ag- 

 . . alena, I am able to contirm, from my own observations, as sub- 



. . stantially accurate. According to this author, the male of Argi- 



ope, which is very small, stands on the upper edge of the web, 

 while the female occupies her usual position in the centre. After feeling 

 the web with his feet for some time, he runs down the centre so lightly 

 as not to disturb the female, and climbs over her body for some minutes 

 in an apparently aimless way. She takes no notice of him at first, but at 

 length, especially if he approach the under side of her abdomen, she turns 

 and snaps at him with her jaws. He is usually nimble enough to dodge 

 and drop out of the web. Not discouraged, however, he climbs up to the 

 top and begins over again. In these encounters the males are 

 often injured. They frequently lose their legs, and one fellow 

 was seen with only four left out of eight, but still maintaining 

 his embrace. At length the male succeeds in getting under his 

 mate and inserts his palpi under her, into the epigynum. (Fig. 

 13.) In the meanwhile the female hangs in the wel), while the 

 male holds by his legs to the under part of her abdomen. (See 

 Fig. 14. M 



Mr. Emerton thus describes the courtship of Epeira sclope- 

 taria. The approaches of the male were always seen in the 

 evening, just before dark, when the females usually 

 ^^"'^"^Pmake or repair their webs, and the males are wander- 

 ing about visiting. The male would climb carefully 

 over the edge of the web, and, finding that the female 

 took no notice of him, would run suddenly towards 

 the middle of the snare, on the side opposite to that occupied 

 by the female. His head was towards her head, and, if she 



of Epeira 



sclope- 



taria. 



Fig. 13. Male 

 Argiopecopli- 



cing the fe- permitted him to approach near enough, he would slap one of 

 male. (After jjig palps upoii her cpigyuum. By this time the female would 

 strike viciously at her lover, and he would drop suddenly out 

 of the web by the usual dragline.^ 



September 24th, on the banks of the river Arduson, Baron Walckenaer 

 found a reed, the leaves of which were spun together into a nest by Epeira 

 apoclisa. He saw the male of this species mounting towards the nest. 

 Wishing to make observations at his leisure, he broke the reed a little be- 

 low the place where the male stood, and carried the whole to his chamber. 

 The male did not attempt to run away or quit the neighborliood of the 

 nest. Walckenaer placed the reed in a large box. The following morning 

 he saw a long thread stretched and the female issuing from her nest upon 



' Structure and Habits of Spiders, page 87. 

 ^ Letter to the author, October 17th, 1888. 



^ Drawn bv ^Ir. Emerton for this worli. 



