66 Flashlights o\ NATrRE 



I niivc left to liic last the delicate tpiestion :)l 

 the (lomestic relations oi spiders, which are cei- 

 taiiily not of a sort to be comnieiuled lor imitation. 

 The lady spider, indeed, too closely resembles the 

 late Mr. Deeming and the natives of Fiji in her 

 unsatisfactory notions of conjuj^al alfection. I 

 rcj^iet to say it is her reprehensible habit to devour 

 alive her unsuccessful suitors, and sometimes also 

 tlie father of her own childi en. These are unami- 

 able traits, but 1 must not conceal them. Vou 

 will observe, no doubt, that throui^hout 1 have said 

 comparatively little of the masculine spider, and 

 much of his lady ; and I have done this of set 

 purpose ; for spideis are a ^roup in which the 

 dominance of the females is marked and undeni- 

 able. The mati iarchate prevails ; the females are 

 the race, and the males exist only as lazy drones, 

 mere idle fathers of future j^enerations. This 

 beinj^ so, the mother spider, true to her thrifty 

 ideas, rej^ards them in the li^ht of necessary evils ; 

 and bein^ always economical, she thinks it well to 

 utilise them for the purposes of the lace by eatinij 

 them up the moment they have fulldled their sole 

 and siuL^le marital function. 



This peculiar habit makes the courtship of 

 spiders a <frim trai^i-comedy, well worth observ- 

 ing. In No. 9 Mr. Knock has represented one 

 salient scene in the painful drama. And this is 

 the interpretation thereof. Two male spiders have 

 come to pay their court to the supeicilious Rosa- 

 lind. She, j^ood lady, sits unconcerned but watch- 

 ful in the centre or hub of her snare, apparently 



