40 PECKHAM. [Vol. 1. 



and then follow himself. Here the mating would be accom- 

 plished, after some slight preliminaries. The females seemed 

 to have some difficulty in choosing from among the males, but, 

 after a decision had been reached and a male accepted, there 

 appeared to be complete agreement, and the male, thereafter, 

 commenced to build his house. On the next morning we 

 found all the pairs together in different tents. 



The male, when prancing before the female, stood quite 

 high on the three posterior pairs of legs; the first pair, the 

 palpi, and the long falces, were stretched out stiffly in an oblique 

 direction, the spider moving i-apidly from side to side. 



ICIDS SP. 



This species, still undescribed, we discovered last summer, 

 in large numbers, on rail fences at the edge of woods. We had 

 worked over the place time and again, for many years past, 

 but had overlooked them, not only on account of their admira- 

 ble protective coloring, but from the fact that they only congre- 

 gate, in this way, until they have mated, and afterward wander 

 back into the woods and are then rarely met with . This is a 

 habit with several Attidie'' and reminds one of the "Sikaleli" or 

 dancing-parties of certain birds, or of our own partridge dances. 

 We were fortunate in discovering them just at the mating 

 season. A dozen or more males and about half as manj^ 

 females were assembled together within the length of one of 

 the rails. The males were rushing hither and thither, dan- 

 cing opposite now one female and now another ; often two 

 males met each other, when a short passage of arms followed. 

 They waved their first legs, sidled back and forth, and then 

 rushed together and clinched, but quickly separated, neither 

 being hurt, only to run off in search of other and fairer foes. 

 We watched them for hours, and then, our patience being ex- 

 hausted, filled all our bottles and carried them home. We placed 

 them in the smaller boxes, since we have learned that pro- 

 pinquity is quite as effective in hastening the courtship of 



1 In the genus Dendryphantes, capitatws and elegans are examples. Going to 

 their favorite bushes we have caught 40-50 males In a tew hours' sweeping, but after 

 the season the same locality would not yield more than '2-3. 



