1903.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 73 



pushed forward a little after each tap, the abdomen twitching in time 

 with the tapping of the foot; and, third, the leg is withdrawn and 

 flexed over the eephalothorax ^gain. This process occupies from 

 10 to 15 seconds, then there is a short pause, followed by a repetition 

 of the act in which the opposite leg is pushed forward. This may- 

 be repeated several times without his moving from one spot, and not 

 only when he is not facing the female, but also w^hen he is at some 

 distance from her. \Vhen he is facing her, and evidently sees her, 

 while courting he advances toward her, taking a very short step 

 forward during each act of courtship; sometimes he may advance as 

 much as 2 or 3 millimeters at a time, sometimes again by still smaller 

 steps, the rate increasing somewhat as he comes nearer to her. In 

 case the female moves aw^ay in a course at right angles to his line 

 of vision, he quickly turns around to keep her in view, but does not 

 hasten his slow advance. I have also seen males when in their own 

 cages, and out of all view of a female, commence to make these courting 

 motions, even to continue them for some hours; but unless the female 

 is in view, they do not advance while courting. This immature 

 female, while being courted, plainly saw him, and would move away 

 from him without his touching her; she made no determined hostile 

 rushes upon him, and he did not appear afraid of her. Sometimes 

 she assumed an attitude of defense, the long axis of the body at an 

 angle to the floor with the spinnerets touching the floor, and the 

 first and second pairs of legs elevated and stretched out before her. 

 On July 31 she completed her final moult, and on August 1 the same 

 male was introduced at 9.20 P.M., and kept in until 10.30; he courted, 

 but she avoided him. He was introduced again on August 21, at 

 10.33 A.i\I., saw her at 10.36, and immediately commenced courting; 

 at 10.38 she turned to face him and touched him with her fore-legs, 

 when he immediately climbed over her head, embraced her and com- 

 menced the copulation. The attitude of the embrace was the same 

 as in other Lycosids — the male above the female facing in the reverse 

 direction, his head above the pedicel of her abdomen, grasping her 

 with his three anterior pairs of legs; the female with legs outsprawled, 

 and making only the movement of flexing the ventral surface of her 

 abdomen upward on its long axis so as to bring her epigynum within 

 reach of his palpal organ. The male lies rather obliquely across 

 the female so as to extend his palpal organ downward to reach the 

 epigynum ; when he lies obliquely across her right side he employs his 

 right palpal organ only, when across her left side his left palpal organ. 

 During the time of each palpal insertion a large sac on the median 



