WOOING AND MATING. 



39 



back and feet; fourth, the male palpal Viulbs are applied many times to the 

 epigynum ; fifth, the embrace ceases, the female remains stationary in tl^e 

 same place, the male wanders about, makes a straggling web and 

 ^^'^^'"^ catches flies; sixth, the male comes before the female, touches her 

 ■ feet, and remains vis-a-vis ; seventh, the female makes a tube and 

 enters it ; eighth, the male penetrates the tube ; ninth, the pair remain 

 for ten days domiciled within this bower, the female staying persistently 

 within, the male making frequent excursions; tenth, on the twelfth day 

 the female leaves the tulmlar bower and returns to her leafy nest; elev- 

 enth, the male makes no attempt \o follow her, but wanders around the 

 bottle, seeking to escape. At this point observation ended, but thei'e was 

 probably nothing further to observe. 



Zilla callophylla is lacking in ferocity, and lives on good terms with 



■ Fig. 15. Fig. 16. Fig. 17. 



Argyroepeira hortorum. Fig. 15, male ; Fig. 16, female ; Fig. 17, the male palps, 

 much enlarged. (After Emerton.) 



her mate. September 30th a male and female of this species were taken 

 by Walckenaer, and placed in a glass bottle. The male, after 

 Zilla ca - ^j^^ ordinary preliminary caresses, such as touching with the ex- 

 tended feet, stretched some threads in the manner of those which 

 served the female to descend from the top of the bottle to the bottom, where 

 he was. Then, by the movement of her feet, she excited her spouse to 

 approach her. Every part of the male's body trembled in a sensible man- 

 ner. He advanced towards his mate, not without appearance of fear, since 

 she received him with open mandibles. Three times he essayed, always 

 while advancing, to introduce the genital organ of one of his palps into 

 the vulva of the female, and he succeeded at the fourth attempt with the 

 digital bulb of his left palp. Then was manifest in the male, as in the 

 female, a coiivulsive trembling of all the limbs and of all parts of the 

 body, which evidently announced that the union was accomplished. Four 



