AN EIGHT-LEGGED ISHMAELITE. 41 



the female he proceeds to show off his dancing. At first the 

 dance is slow ; it is, in fact, a series of balancing feats. 

 Having stretched out all his eight legs, the male spider 

 folds in those of one side as far as he can without overbalanc- 

 ing himself. The female watches him eagerly, constantly 

 changing her position so as to obtain a better view. If she 

 appears satisfied, the male moves in semi-circles towards her. 

 She will in all probability resent this and make a dash at 

 him. He of course runs away, but, as she does not follow 

 him, determines to try his luck again, and a second time 

 edges up to her by means of a series of semi-circular motions. 

 The female now joins in and the fun becomes fast and furi- 

 ous. They both whirl round in terrific excitement. Yet 

 again the male retreats and resumes his semi-circular move- 

 ments. The female has by this time worked herself into a 

 positive frenzy. She stands up on her hind legs and in this 

 attitude determines whether she will accept her suitor or not. 

 If she does, they embrace ; if not, the male will show a fine 

 turn of speed, for he literally has to run for his life. 



Seeing that the relations of the sexes are thus strained, it 

 will not be a matter for surprise that spiders of different 

 species are not very amicably disposed towards one another. 

 Each spider appears to regard every other as his natural 

 enemy. A spider sees nothing wrong in killing his neigh- 

 bour and seizing his web. A fight between two of these 

 animals for a web is an amusing spectacle. They do not as 

 a rule use their falces when fighting. The contest partakes 

 more of the nature of a wrestling match. There is a great 

 deal of manoeuvring for the grip. He, who secures this, wins 

 the day. The antagonists keep revolving, jumping over 

 and passing under one another, until one makes a mistake 

 and is seized in a disadvantageous position by his adver- 

 sary, who loses no time in weaving a net for him. The van- 

 quished spider, bound hand and foot, starves to death, 

 while the web becomes or remains the undisputed posses- 

 sion of the victor according as he is the attacker or 

 defender. 



