COURTSHIP AND MATING 87 



evidently admiring the grace of his antics. This is repeated 

 until we have counted in circles made by the ardent little 

 male. Now he approaches nearer and nearer and when almost 

 within reach, whirls madly around and around her, she joining 

 and whirling with him in a giddy maze. Again he falls back and 

 resumes his semicircular motions, with his body tilted over; she, 

 all excitement, lowers her head and raises her body so that it 

 is almost vertical; both draw nearer; she moves slowly under 

 him, he crawling over her head, and the mating is accom- 

 plished. 15 



In the many American species of Habronattus, the front legs 

 and the face are lavished with decoration. The enlarged tibiae of 

 oregonense, the hirsute legs of agilis, the iridescent blue metatarsi 

 of hirsutus, the pink palpi, scarlet clypeus, banded face of other 

 species, are only a few of the expressions of color and ornament in 

 the group. Some of the species have the third legs modified, and 

 among them is viridipes with a strangely formed patella armed with 

 a pale spine and marked with a black spot. During courtship he 

 finds it a difficult task to balance himself while endeavoring to ex- 

 hibit two pirs of legs. 



When he gets to within an inch of the female, he lifts the 

 first legs nearly at right angles with the body, giving them a 

 bowed position, with the tips approaching each other, so that 

 each leg describes a semicircle, while the palpi are held firmly 

 together in front. Up to this time he has held the body well 

 above the ground, but now he lowers it by spreading out the 

 second and fourth pairs, at the same time bringing the tips of 

 the third pair nearer the body and arching the legs over the 

 posterior part of the cephalothorax in such a way that the proxi- 

 mal ends of the tibiae nearly meet. As he stands in this position, 

 the female, who is watching him eagerly, has the front surface 

 of the apophysis plainly in view over the dorsal surface of the 

 cephalothorax, and face and clypeus are also well exposed. Now 

 he approaches her very slowly, with a sort of creeping move- 

 ment. When almost near enough to touch her, he begins a very 

 complicated movement with the first pair of legs. Directing 

 them obliquely forward, he again and again rotates each leg 

 around an imaginary point just beyond the tip; when they are 



