XIV MATING HABITS 379 
the sperm matured in the abdomen was a problem which has 
only been solved comparatively recently. No direct connection 
could be found by way of the palpus with the abdominal organs, 
which, indeed, were seen to have an 
orifice between the lung-sacs. It is 
now known that some spiders at all 
events spin a slight web upon which 
they deposit a drop of spermatic fluid, 
which they afterwards absorb into their 
palpal organs for transference to the 
female. Secondary sexual differences 
are often very marked, the male being 
almost invariably the smaller in body, 
though its legs are frequently longer 
and more powerful than those of the 
female. 
Among some of the sedentary spiders 
the disparity in size is excessive. The 
most striking examples are furnished 
by the Epeirid genera <Argiope and 
Nephila, the male in some instances 
not attaining more than the thousandth part of the mass of the 
female. The coloration of the sexes is frequently quite dissimilar, 
the male being usually the darker, though in the Attidae he is 
in many cases the more strikingly ornamented. 
In the minute Theridiid spiders of the group Erigoninae (see 
p. 404), the male cephalothorax often presents remarkable and 
characteristic excrescences not observable in the female. Some 
curious examples of this phenomenon may be seen in Fig. 209. 
To the ordinary observer male spiders will appear to be com- 
paratively rare, and to be greatly outnumbered by the females. 
This is probably to some degree true, but the unsettled habits of 
the males and the shorter duration of their life are calculated to 
give an exaggerated impression of their rarity. They only appear 
in considerable numbers at the mating season, shortly after which 
the males, in the case of many species, may be sought for in vain, 
as, after performing their functions, they quickly die. The snares 
they spin are often rudimentary, their capabilities in this direction 
appearing to deteriorate after the adult form is attained. Young 
spiders of indistinguishable sex make perfect snares on a small 
Fre. 198.—Argiope wurelia, § and 
@, natural size. 
