Dugesiella hentzi (Girard). 371 



creeps under the web and lying on liis back, spends considerable 

 time in that position. If he were weaving bis spiiinerets would 

 move and the thread produced by them would be visible, but this 

 is rarely the case. During most of the time he moves only his legs, 

 holding the sheet with the claws and lifting his body by pressing 

 the patellas against the ground. On Plate 10, Figs. 4 and 5 the same 

 male is represented in two different moments of this curious attitude. 

 In Fig. 5 one may even see that the web is considerably bent upward 

 by the pressure of the body. At times he will cease testing and 

 begin to spin from below ; then after a while, he will again stop 

 spinning and begin testing his work anew by lifting himself on his 

 patellas and pressing the whole ventral surface of his body against 

 the sheet. He next finishes the anterior edge of the spermweb by 

 strengthening it and at the same time making it semicircular. This 

 semicircular edge was made in all flfteen cases. Now, still \yh\g 

 on his back, the male brings his palpi to his mouth and from time 

 to time puts them alternately deep into it. Finally he creeps out 

 from under the spermweb, bringing first his front legs and palpi up 

 over the semicircular edge. One of the males was photographed 

 at this moment and this photograph is reproduced on Plate 10, Fig. 6. 

 In creeping over the semicircular edge, the male drops his sperm 

 on top of the web, about one centimeter from the edge. The drop 

 is about V3 of a cubic centimeter in size. The male now turns 

 on the web so that he comes to lie on it with his mouth over the 

 sperm. Both palpi are lowered over the semicircular edge and 

 brought under the web and the drawing of the sperm into the bulbs 

 of both palpi begins. During this process which lasts for more than 

 an hour (an hour and 55 minutes in one instance), both bulbs are 

 alternatelj'^, rhythmically, at a rate of from 80 to 100 times a minute, 

 lowered and pressed against the spermweb in the spot over which 

 the spermdrop was placed. The spermdrop is therefore 

 drawn into the bulbs through the web. The process is 

 represented in Figs. 6—8 in all of which we see the drop of sperm 

 photographed from below through the web and appearing as a light 

 grey spot. In Fig. 7 one may even see that the bulb is actually 

 pressing the web upward. During the process of sperm fiUing, the 

 male is so preoccupied with it that the box may safelj'^ be carried 

 about without disturbing him and even direct sunlight will not 

 always stop the Performance. The great length of time required 

 for the accomplishment of the act would seem to indicate that the 



Zool. Jahrb. XXXI. Abt. f. Syst. 25 



