408 C. H. TURNER 



monogamous male cecropia and wonders if it is an incipient 

 stage of a higher adaptation or a phylogenetic vestige of a time 

 when the long life of the male was of advantage to the species, — 

 of a time when, possibly, the species had functional mouth 

 parts and a polygamous habit. 



Barnes *^ found that freshly emerged males of Anisota Skinneri 

 copulated freely with females that had emerged the previous 

 day. Oviposition lasted a week and each individual laid about 

 three hundred eggs. In about a week the eggs hatched and 

 the larvae fed upon oak leaves. There were five larval stages. 

 Pupation occurs in the ground. In captivity, there are two 

 broods a year. 



Mitzmain '' found that in mating the male rodent flea at- 

 tached itself to the ventral side of the female, by means of its 

 antennae, and remained more or less passive; while the female 

 went from place to place bearing the male on her back. 



Montgomery's " paper is an elaborate discussion of the court- 

 ing habits of spiders. He gives a critical review of the work 

 of previous writers and records numerous original observations. 

 At the close he gives a list of the literature of the subject. 

 Montgomery finds that the males mature earlier than the fe- 

 males and that they do not live longer than a year. Promis- 

 cuous mating is general; a male usually impregnates a number 

 of females and a female usually accepts several males. Monogamy 

 is exceptional, occurring in those cases where the male seizes 

 an immature female by force and where the male lives in a 

 mating nest with the female. In some cases there is no court- 

 ship (some thomasids, some lycosids) ; but usually there is 

 some form of it, and this may be by either touch or by sight. 

 In the simplest form of courtship by touch, the male taps the 

 female rapidly with his feet until she either runs from him or 

 becomes submissive (some drassids). In the more compli- 

 cated form, the male makes signal pulls upon the lines of the 

 snare; when the female is eager for him, she returns the signal 

 in the same way (Theridium). In courtship by sight, which 

 is peculiar to only a few of the diurnal forms, "the courtship 

 movements of the male range from a simple waving of the 

 first pair of legs {Lycosa lepida Keys), or the waving of these 

 and the palpi, to much more complicated movements of these 

 parts associated with peculiar posturings, advances and re- 



