68 REPORT — 1844. 



This preliminary point being settled, attention was directed in the next 

 place to spiders in a state of liberty, when it was perceived that the males of 

 various species do not bring any part of the abdomen near the vulva of the 

 females in the act of copulation, and that this is the case with the Lycosce in 

 particular ; for example, the male of Lycosa higubris, after having made the 

 customary advances, springs suddenly upon the back of the female with his 

 head directed towards her spinners and the anterior part of the inferior surface 

 of the abdomen resting upon her cephalothorax ; then placing the first pair 

 of legs immediately behind her posterior pair, the second pair between her 

 second and third pairs, the third pair between her first and second pairs, and 

 the posterior pair before her first pair, he thus embraces her, and applies the 

 palpal organs to the vulva by inclining to one side or the other as the occasion 

 may require. In this situation the male remains till the act of union is con- 

 summated and then quits it with precipitancy, so that his abdomen is not even 

 brought into contact with that part, much less with the vulva, of the female. 



Precisely the same manner of proceeding is pursued by Lycosa agretyca, 

 Lycosa saccata, Lycosa pallida, and Lycosa ohscura ; and females of the last 

 species have been seen to receive the embraces of several males in immediate 

 succession, and to copulateeven at the time they had cocoons containing newly- 

 laid eggs attached to their spinners, which circumstances serve to support 

 the opinion that some spiders pair oftener than once in the course of their 

 lives. 



When in captivity, the sexes of Lycosa luguhi-is sometimes continue paired 

 more than four hours, during which period the male applies the palpal organs 

 several hundred times to the vulva of the female. 



Notwithstanding the important bearing of these observationsuponthephysio- 

 logical problem under consideration, something was still wanting to complete 

 its solution, and recourse was had to direct experiment to supply the desidera- 

 tum. 



On the 4th of May 1842, an adult male Tegenaria civilis was procured, and, 

 being held by the legs in an inverted position, the inferior surl'ace of the 

 abdomen was moistened by applying to it a camel's hair pencil which had 

 been dipped in water. The entire interval between the plates of the spiracles, 

 supposed by Treviranus to be the seat of the sexual organs in male spiders, 

 and even a considerable space below that interval, was then covered with 

 strong, well-gummed writing-paper cut into a suitable form and closely applied, 

 and when the paper became thoroughly dry and firmly attached, the spider 

 was placed in a phial with a female of the same species, which had been in 

 solitary confinement from the 2nd of June 1841, and had cast its skin twice 

 during its captivity. With this female the male paired on the same day he 

 was introduced to her, applying the palpal organs to the vulva in the usual 

 manner, and immediately after the union was completed he was removed from 

 her. On the 23rd of May she deposited a set of eggs in a cocoon spun for 

 their reception, and on the 11th of June she constructed another cocoon in 

 which she laid a second set of eggs. All these eggs proved to be prolific, the 

 extrication of young spiders from the first set commencing on the 26th of June, 

 and from the second set on the 13th of July, in the same year. Without re- 

 newing her intercourse with the male, this female deposited a set of eggs in 

 a cocoon on the 2nd of April, the 9th of May, the 4th of June, the 22nd of 

 June, and the 9th of July 1843, and on the 22nd of April, the 30th of May, 

 the 29th of June, and the 1st of August 1844, respectively, nine sets in number, 

 all of which produced young. 



Another male Tegenaria civilis, after undergoing the same treatment exactly 

 as that in the preceding experiment, was introduced, on the 6th of May 1842, 



