DANGEROUS COURTSHIP 



roots. Of these, dead leaves are decidedly the most effective, 

 for unless they be removed the door is absolutely invisible, 

 however carefully you may search for it. 



In speaking of the spider as " she " we are literally correct, 

 for the male appears to take no part whatever in designing, 

 constructing, or decorating the dwelling, and is seldom 

 found inhabiting it even as the temporary guest of his 

 mate. Amongst spiders in general it is rare indeed to find 

 the sexes associating; it is not in the nature of the female 

 to live in harmony with her mate, and should he be bold 

 enough to make tender advances, the reception he meets 

 with is often highly discouraging. Courtship is for him a 

 proceeding fraught with danger; the female has to be 

 approached with the utmost circumspection, and even when, 

 after much careful wooing, she appears to be " in a holiday 

 humour, and like enough to consent," he must still be alert 

 and distrustful, for the "cruel fair" has been known to 

 prefer, on sudden impulse, a headless mate, and at last to 

 eat him ! It is for this reason probably that male spiders 

 are almost invariably of lighter build, swifter, smaller, and 

 altogether more agile than the females, for in the develop- 

 ment of the race the individuals who excelled in these 

 respects would stand a better chance of surviving the court- 

 ship. But we must leave the arts and crafts of a spider's 

 wooing, and return to those with which we are more properly 

 concerned. The male, then, is seldom met with ; he does 

 not share the nest, but seems to live a vagrant life, camping 

 out, so to speak, in holes and crannies ; so we may dismiss 

 him from our minds and turn our attention to the female. 

 Let us watch her at work while she makes her wonderful 

 nest. In the first place there is a shaft to be sunk in the 

 ground, and if she be a well-grown spider (that is to say 

 from three-quarters of an inch to an inch in length), begin- 



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