308 JOURNAL OP THE TRINIDAD 



THE COURTING OF ANIMALS. 



THIS subject seeems to prove attractive to many naturalists. 

 In vol. x. of the " Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy 

 of Sciences," there is a highly interesting paper by Mr. and Mrs. 

 Peckham on the " Courtship of Certain Spiders." It seems to 

 be the case that the sharpness of vision in spiders is accentuated 

 by love. A male of Satis pulex was put into a box in which was 

 a female of the same species twelve inches away, and the male 

 " perceived her at once, lifting his head with an alert and excited 

 expression, and went bounding towards her." By experiments it 

 was proved that this recognition was really due to sight. These 

 results are interesting because some have affirmed that spiders 

 cannot see nearly as far as twelve inches. Further experiments 

 seem to show that spiders can differentiate colour. M. Racovitza, 

 a Roumanian naturalist, has been studying the courting and 

 marriage customs of the octopus, and in a recent number of the 

 " Archives de Zoologie Experimental e," he gives us some of his 

 observations. It is satisfactory to know that the octopus does 

 not, as some have thought, behave brutally in its love affairs. 

 M. Racovitza assures us that " there is nothing more than a 

 courteous flirtation," and " that the male behaves with a certain 

 delicacy towards his companion." — Science Gossip. 





