PAIRING OF SPIDERS. 



49 



The observer left them at 12.30 A. M. and returned at 7 A. M. The 



male was still using his right palp. He saw no application of the left 



palp, but had no doubt that it was employed during the night, 



natiorf " as in ot ^ er cases> He had never observed the pairing interrupted 

 for a fresh collection of semen, although there is no reason to 

 think that this may not occur. The duration of the pairing is long, but 

 he was inclined to think it is more dependent on the difficulty in inserting 

 the embolos than on sexual endurance. 



III. 



The pairing of Xysticus trivittata Keyserling has been briefly described 

 by Mr. Emerton, and figured. 1 The spiders were seen on the 5th of June 

 among the short grass in an open pasture . 



in New England. The female held herself 

 head downward on a blade of 

 Pairing f grass, with the abdomen turned 



away only enough for the male 

 grades. J 



to reach under it with his palps. 



There did not appear to have been any web 

 on the grass, though there may have been 

 a few threads for the female to hold by. 



Among Lycosids we have the descrip- 

 tion given by one of the earliest natural- 

 ists, Clerck, the Swedish observer. 2 He 



saw the pairing of Lycosa sac- 

 ca ^ a a b u t the middle of June, 



Li c sids 



upon a rock exposed to the sun. 



The two sexes approached by jumps, which 

 became fewer and slower as they drew near. 

 The male ended these preliminary stages 

 of courtship by suddenly leaping upon the 

 female. He then passed one of his palps un- 

 der her abdomen, and, holding and inclin- 

 ing her body with the other, inserted first 

 one and then the other palp. When the 



pairing was ended, the two sexes separated Fl - 



species, Xysticus trivittata. (From Nature.) 







and promptly ran away trom one another.* 



Emerton 4 says of the same family that the male leaps upon the back 

 of the female, and is carried about by her. He reaches down at the side 

 of her abdomen and inserts his palps into the epigynum underneath. The 



1 Psyche, Vol. V., 1889, page 169. 



2 Clerck, Aran. Svec., pages 91, 92, pi. 4, Tab. 5, Figs. 1, 2, male. 



3 Walck., Apt., I., page 328. 4 Habits and Structure, page !>r>. 



