PAIRING OF SPIDERS. 45 



According to Walckenaer, the union of the male and female of the 

 European Agalena labyrinthea takes place in the tube which serves as the 

 dwelling place for the female. In France this act occurs about 

 gra ei ^ e jnj^dle o f July. The female turns herself upon her side, al- 

 rinthea most upon the broad of her back. The male places himself 

 upon her in such a position as to hide from the observer his 

 head and cephalothorax. 1 It will thus be seen that the method entirely 

 corresponds with that of our own Agalena nsevia, which this familiar Eu- 

 ropean spider so closely resembles. 



The male of Clubiona constructs a web for union with the female, and 

 prepares, as one may say, the marriage couch, to which he admits the 

 female when the propitious moment has come. 2 



The interesting habits of Argyroneta aquatica, the well known Water 

 spider of Europe, were first fully made known by De Lignac, a priest of 

 the Oratoire, Paris, A. D. 1748. 3 He not only observed the man- 

 ner of making the nest beneath the water (Fig. 22), which has 

 Spider. keen frequently confirmed since, but also the act of pairing. 

 When the male wishes to pair, says De Lignac, he constructs 

 near the nest of the female, and by the same means, a nest resembling 

 that of his spouse; but the nest is somewhat smaller. When the male has 

 completed the construction of his domicile, he makes a long canal, which 

 joins his cell to that of his spouse. He then cuts through the wall of the 

 latter, and introduces his body into the strange apartment. This vehicle 

 of communication being made, he strengthens it on the roof and sides. 

 He plasters this, as he does the rest of his nest, with silk, white and im- 

 permeable, and thus extends this corridor until it may be as 

 , e , large as the two apartments. Sometimes one sees, but only oc- 

 Corridor casionally, as many as three lodges, which communicate with each 

 other. As these cells have been thus easily united, they also 

 sometimes separate, as, for example, when they are too lightly united, or 

 by the movements of the spiders when they engage in combats, for it ap- 

 pears that during the time of amour they are somewhat irascible. Often- 

 times one sees a strange spider making an effort to enter into one of these 

 lodges; but the inmate, who keeps its feet outside, guards, as a watchful 

 sentinel, the safety of its domicile, and drives the intruder from the door. 

 Baron Walckenaer confirmed these observations of De Lignac and added 

 some interesting details. On the 27th of July he placed together 

 Walck- m gi ass vessels males and females of Argyroneta. On the fol- 



f^Tl f\ ftT**R 



Q, lowing day he saw in one of the silken bells woven by them a 



tions. male caressing the female with his feet, and carrying his palps 



to her abdomen. The two spiders were then upon the same line, 



1 Apteres, Vol. II., page 22. 2 Walck., I. Apt., page 143. 



3 L'Histoire des Araign^es Aquatiques, page 43. De Geer in Holland as early as 1736 had 

 observed the curious industry of the Water spiders. 



