COMPARATIVE VIEWS OF VARIOUS MATING HABITS. ''..", 



selves in the neighborhood, pierce the earth with tiny tubes, which in their 

 silk lining and hinged trapdoor are tiny miniatures of the maternal dom- 

 icile. It certainly is in the line of that influence upon architecture and 

 spinningwork generally, which is associated with, and prohahly incitive of, 

 the maternal industry, that this remarkable talent for house building should 

 have been developed by the Trapdoor spider. But I am disposed to think 

 that the protection of the spider itself, from certain enemies which are 

 not as yet well known, has much to do with the structure. 



Coming now to the male spider, it may be observed, in certain species 



at least, that the sexual feeling serves, to some extent, a like purpose 



with the maternal instinct in exciting the animal to a higher 



, order of industrial art. As a rule, the spinning abilities of male 

 Peeling- in . , ,. 



Males. spiers, as far as they relate to the capture of prey, have been 



shown in Volume I. to be less decided than with females. The 

 rule is not absolute for all species, as in some cases the snare spun by the 

 male is precisely like that woven by the female. But in certain other 

 genera, as, for example, Argiope and probably Nephila, the snares of the 

 male are rudimentary, and do not compare in perfection with those of 

 the female. 



Yet, in the hour of courtship, and under the influence of amatory ex- 

 citement, the male of the Water spider, Argyroneta aquatica, will be in- 

 cited to weave a silken cell close by that of his lady love, and resort to 

 the unusual device of uniting this with the domicile of his spouse by a 

 silken vault, which is so admirably arranged as to permit communication 

 without inviting destruction in the midst of an element ill calculated to 

 preserve intact a flimsy material like spider's silk. 



So, again, it will be found that among the Saltigrades the male of 1'hi- 

 Ia3us militaris is prompted by sexual excitement to the remarkable habit of 

 preparing a special silken bower for his chosen mate, to which he 

 Influenc- } ea( j s j ier> an( j m w hich he confines her until the nuptial hour. 

 j 1 ^, n " What is yet more remarkable, the males of this species have ac- 

 quired the habit of selecting immature females, and secluding 

 them under a silken tent until maturity prepares them for nuptial rites. 



It will thus be seen that, under the powerful influence of sexual feeling, 

 the male responds to a higher type of industrial art, and that to some 

 extent this feeling operates upon his organization in the same manner 

 that the maternal instinct influences the habit of the female. 



III. 



It has been shown that in some species of Orb weavers the females will 

 seize and devour the male even immediately after the exercise of his natural 

 office, which indeed he has to undertake with great self control and care 

 to be able to accomplish it at all. From this propensity of the female, 



