COURTSHIP AND MATING 81 



movement is usually part of the courtship ritual. Among the small 

 Pardosae the palpi, usually bedecked with jet-black hairs or varie- 

 gated with black and snow-white ones, receive a large share of the 

 ornamentation. The larger lycosids usually have the front legs 

 darkened and occasionally provided with brushes of conspicuous 

 black hairs. 



The courtship patterns of American wolf spiders were first in- 

 vestigated in detail by Montgomery in 1910, and more recently, in 

 1936, were made the subject of special analysis by B. J. Kaston. 



A few of our species may be mentioned. Pardosa milvina (Plate 

 XXV and Text Fig. 2, A) is a small, long-legged wolf spider with 

 black head and palpi. 



The courtship motions are as follows: The male stands with 

 his body well elevated above the ground (an attitude that a 

 female takes only when she is aggressive) on his three posterior 

 pairs of legs, his head higher that his abdomen, so that the long 

 axis of his body describes an angle of 3o-40 with the surface 

 of the ground. He waves his palpi upward in the air (i.e., 

 straightening them out before his head) flexes them outward, 

 from one to three times, then draws his body slightly backward 

 and downward, rapidly waving in the air the outstretched palpi 

 and first pair of legs, and spasmodically shaking the whole body 

 with the violence of the movement. The vehemence and to 

 some extent the attitudes reminds one forcibly of a small terrier 

 barking at a cat. The movement of the palpi exhibits most 

 clearly their relatively huge, black terminal joints. When the 

 male is timid, or not very eager, he may wave only his palpi, 

 and these slowly and alternately instead of together. The male 

 repeats these motions several times, usually becoming more ve- 

 hement each time, then moves a step nearer the female, repeats 

 them again, moves nearer again, so that in a short time his out- 

 stretched shaking forelegs come in contact with the female. 10 



A closely related species, Pardosa saxatilis, raises the forelegs 

 alternately and at the same time wigwags with his jet-black palpi, 

 using them alternately as well. In Pardosa emertoni, the front legs 

 are held up in the air and the palpi are flexed and jerked, and fol- 

 lowed by movements of the abdomen. Pardosa modica makes little 



10 T. H. Montgomery, "Studies on the Habits of Spiders, Particularly Those 

 of the Mating Period," Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Philadelphia, 1903, pp. 83-4. 



