No. 1.] SEXUAL SELECTION IN SPIDERS. 57 



that he does thus intimate his presence, and that the first stages 

 of the engagement are consummated by these telegraphic com- 

 munications back and forth between male and female over the 

 delicate filaments of the silken snare. 



"If matters be favorable, the male draws nearer, usually by 

 short approaches, renewing the signals at the halting places. 

 Sometimes this preliminary stay is very brief; sometimes it is 

 greatly prolonged. I have observed it to be continued during 

 several days, in which the male would patiently wait, some- 

 times, but not always, changing his position until his advances 

 were favorably received, or were so decidedly repulsed that he 

 was compelled to retire. With Labyrinth spiders I have gener- 

 ally seen the male stationed upon the maze, or that part of the 

 snare which consists of crossed lines. Here he would make for 

 himself, as he hung back downward, a little dome of spinning 

 work, which spread above him like a miniature umbrella. The 

 male of Argiope cophinaria feels the web with his feet for some 

 time before the final approach. The male of Linyphia margi- 

 nata, as he cautiously approaches, pulls upon the threads con- 

 necting his own with his lady's bower. The period of ap- 

 proach or courtship is generally terminated by a sudden rush 

 which brings the partners into union." 



The same idea was advocated many years ago by Termeyer, 

 as follows : * 



"The diadema spider was that which I examined. * * * 

 He never appears in the center of the beautiful webs, and even 

 when I saw him he was, as to abdomen and palpi, so different 

 from the female, which in other respects he resembled, that I 

 should not have supposed him of the same species. He never 

 spins webs except in the time of his amours. * * * He 

 approaches Itttle by little, with much caution, doubtful of the re- 

 ception with which he is to meet in the web of the female, who 

 occupies the center, intent only on her prey. He commences 



1 Eesearohes and Experiments upon the SlLt from Spiders and upon their 

 Reproduction. Raymond Maria de Termeyer. Revised by Burt G. Wilder, M. D . 

 Proceedings of Essex Institute, Vol. V, pp. 71-73. 



