REPRODUCTION AND SEX 513 



already in possession of an egg, and they are marked by the calmness 

 one would expect from an albatross. There may be grunts and groans 

 or there may be complete silence. There is no emotional climax. 



COURTSHIP OF SPIDERS —For forty years or so it has been 

 well known that the quaint ways of courting spiders deserve inquiry 

 and admiration. They show diversity, intricacy, and abandon to a 

 degree that fills us with scientific curiosity, and sometimes leaves us 

 wondering whether we have more than begun to imderstand living 

 creatures. 



Among the Jumping Spiders, which leap on their victims and 

 are much less shortsighted than most of their kindred, the main 

 method of courtship is the dance. The male is very agile, and he 

 often has special decorations on his front legs or elsewhere; and 

 these he obviously "shows off" in his tireless waltzing before his 

 desired mate. He sometimes circles round her a hundred times, and 

 she becomes more and more interested in his display. A significant 

 feature is that each species has a dance of its own, for this spells 

 individuality. 



Among the wolf-spiders, which have also good eyesight, the usual 

 practice of the male is to stand on tiptoe and wave his decorative 

 palps or his forelegs in semaphore fashion; and he does it with 

 quaint seriousness. In his admirable Biology of Spiders, Savory 

 tells us of a common British relative of the wolf spiders who has 

 got no decorations to wave, but has hit upon the brilliant idea of 

 presenting wrapped-up flies to the female. 



These courtship gifts have their analogues at the human level; 

 but there are some remarkable features. On one occasion a spider 

 suitor with "a frugal mind" was seen offering his desired mate a 

 fly which he had himself previously sucked ! She told him emphati- 

 cally that this sort of thing wasn't done. 



The web-weaving spiders are mostly shortsighted, touch counting 

 for much more than vision, so it is not to be expected that they will 

 go in much for dance or display, for these would not be seen. We 

 wish to state the case cautiously, since we are convinced that much 

 of the courting activity is an expression of irrepressible masculine 

 excitement, and might possibly be exhibited though the females 

 did not see at all. Similarly, it is by no means certain that female 

 insects, like katydids, always hear the instrumental music of the 

 serenading males. The fact is that the less we say the better about 

 hearing among insects. Be this as it may, no one will dispute the 

 point that shortsighted spiders will not win their mates by sema- 

 phoring from an invisible void. But what an exquisite sense of touch 

 they have! If the male of one of the house-spiders is put on the 

 female's web, he begins at once to drum with his palps on the 

 silken sheet. It is, of course, far from being loud drumming, but 



VOL. I LL 



