No. 1.] SEXUAL SELECTION IN SPIDERS. 39 



of only this one female. All the others were more retiring, 

 and were never more than half willing to be wooed. 



The males, while verj'^ excitable in the presence of the 

 female, do not seem to be especially quarrelsome. When ex- 

 cited, they pursue and leap upon each other, but do not exactly 

 fight. During the display of the male before the female, she 

 is no inattentive observer, but watches him intently, turning 

 frequently to keep him in view as he dances from side to side, 

 and, finally, if she approves of him, yields to his desires. 

 Often, however, the male fails to make an impression upon her, 

 even after dancing before her for a long time, since upon his too 

 near approach, she runs away. 



EPIBLEMUM SCENICUM. 



On the afternoon of the 10th of -June we found two males 

 of this species fighting on a brick wall. They held up the first 

 pair of legs and moved rapidly in front of each other, now 

 advancing and now retreating, in a half circle, distant from 

 each other about four and a half inches. There was little real 

 earnestness in the affair, and it reminded one of the bluster of 

 two boys, each threatening the other and daring the other to 

 strike, but neither willing to be the aggressor. In a few 

 minutes they both wandered away. During the next two days 

 we found eighteen males and four females on this wall, which 

 was about 20x12 feet in size. The performances of the male 

 are not so complicated and interesting in this as in the pre- 

 ceding species, nor do the males seem to be so persistent. 



We placed twelve spiders, of both sexes, in one of the 

 boxes. Soon they were all moving about, the males making 

 advances to the females, who seemed to endeavor to escape. 

 After about two hours, we found that three pairs had come to 

 an agreement and mated, the male, in each case, getting his 

 female into a corner of the box and spinning a cover over and 

 around her. Sometimes, while the male was working, the 

 female would wander off several inches, but when the house 

 was nearly completed, he would follow her, and half lead and 

 half drive her home, when he would get her into the nest first, 



