122 PECKHAM. [Vol. 1, 



5 and 5J). After a moment he drops the abdomen, runs a few steps 

 nearer the female, and then tips his body and begins to sway 

 again (Fig. 6). Now he runs in one direction, now in another, 

 pausing every few moments to rock from side to side and to bend 

 his brilhant legs so that she may look full at them. We were 

 much impressed by the fact that the attitudes taken by the 

 males served perfectly to show off their fine points to the female. 

 AVe had never known the male of this species until the day 

 that we caught this one and put him into the mating-box, and 

 it was while studying his courtship that we noticed how he 

 differed from the female in his iridescent first legs. He could 

 not have chosen a better position than the one he took to make 

 a display. We had six females in" the box, and we saw him 

 mate with all of them." 



The rule for the male Alius, when dancing before the 

 female, is either to raise or stretch out the first legs, the appar- 

 ent object being to display the colored hairs and other append- 

 ages with which they may be ornamented, as in the Icius 

 mitratus, or to take an imposing attitude, as in Pliiljeus 

 militaris ; or else to lower these legs so that thej^ may not inter- 

 fere with a view of the ornamented face or clypeus, as in 

 Dendryphantes capitatus. In Synageles picata we are struck 

 by the entirely unique position of the male, and, moreover, 

 by the fact that this position is the only one which would 

 serve to display his principal sexual adornment. If the legs 

 were raised, outstretched, or held close to the ground, the effect 

 of the flattened and iridescent anterior surface would be lost. 

 This is a good example of wdiat we have again and again 

 observed in the courtship of the Attidte — that whatever fine 

 points of color or structure the male possesses, his actions 

 before the female display them lo the very best advantage ; 

 indeed, he seems to have a strong consciousness of every advant- 

 age, and to sedulously strive to bring it to the notice and 

 impress its beauty upon the mind of the female to whom he 

 is paying his addresses.* The females, on the other hand, are 



* We do not say that, in our opinion, he is conscious of his strong points. It is quite 

 coni-'elvahle that the tendency to perform the antics may have developed along with the 

 \ieautles which they serve to display without any Idea of their existence dawninsln the 

 mind of the spider. 



