No. 3.] SEXUAL SELECTION IN SPIDERS. 127 



in the consti'iiction of nests, which is not an inconsiderable 

 work, involving no slight exercise of strength, as well as of 

 ingenuity, as any one will see by turning to the chapter upon 

 Nesting Habits, of this work, Chapter XVII, Volume I. 



" Again, this activity appears in the capture of prey. If 

 any one will take his stand before an average orbweb of almost 

 any common species, say Epeira strix or Epeira scolpetaria, or 

 Argiope cophinaria, at a season when flies and other insects 

 abound, and in a site where they are plenty, he will be sur- 

 prised at the intense activity displayed in the capture of insects. 

 One after another these victims are seized, swathed, dragged to 

 the hub or den to be devoured, and that with a display of 

 vigor in capturing, in swathing, in cutting out the captive, 

 and repairing the web, which must strike the most casual 

 observer. The feast will be left a number of times to seize and 

 truss up in like manner other victims who happen to strike the 

 snare, and on each successive capture the same tremendous 

 rush and energy of action will be noticed. 



" I scarcely know a limit to the voracity of these Orbweaving 

 spiders when full opportunity is given them to feed upon their 

 natural prey ; and I can certainly appeal to any one who has 

 ■observed the actions referred to whether the whole demeanor 

 of the aranead is not such as to impress him with the sense of 

 a vast store of vitality and an almost exhaustless activity. 

 Taking, then, the spinning work, and the ordinary action in 

 capturing prey by means of nets as the standard, it cannot 

 be affirmed with truthfulness that female Orbweavers are inac- 

 tive, or that they suffer in respect of this element from com- 

 parison either with the wandering tribes or with the males of 

 their own species. 



" I might go further and say that when a female Orb- 

 weaver is placed upon the leaves of a plant, or even upon the 

 ground among the grasses, she will display an amount of activ- 

 ity in getting from leaf to leaf, and limb to limb, and from 

 point to point, which is surprising in a creature whose habits 

 are so generally sedentary. I have often been amazed at the 

 rapidity and facility with which the largest Orbweavers, as 



