SPIDERS 175 



Corythalia spp. In most wolf spiders the pedipalps and front legs 

 are provided with an ornamentation of hair that contrasts sharply 

 with the rest of the body. The male stands before the female wav- 

 ing these simultaneously or alternately in a kind of semaphore 

 courtship. One species found on Staten Island, Argentina, makes a 

 curious purring noise at mating time by drumming on dead leaves 

 with its palps. It is probable that in this case the female appreciates 

 the vibrations at some distance. Even more dramatic are the court- 

 ing dances of male jumping spiders. In the tropical species Hasarius 

 adansoni found in many hothouses in Britain, the male is a hand- 

 some, squat, glossy black and brown spider with conspicuous 

 white markings on the pedipalps, abdomen and distal limb seg- 

 ments. During courtship he advances slowly in zig-zag fashion, 

 waving his palps up and down. When the female, who is a sombre 



Fig. 38. Hasarius adansoni; the male in courting attitude. (From 

 Cloudsley-Thompson, 1953.) 



brown colour, turns towards him he stops and remains motionless 

 with his large forelegs held horizontally above the ground. Then he 

 moves forward again. As he nears the female he may jump rapidly 

 sideways or backwards. Again and again this display continues 

 until at last he is permitted to insert first one and then the other of 

 his pedipalps, and copulation takes place, the palps being inserted 

 alternately (Cloudsley-Thompson, 1949). 



Mock, bloodless battles not infrequently occur between rival 

 male jumping spiders. Bristowe (1929) believes these to result from 



