No. 3.] 



SEXUAL SELECTION IX SPIDERS. 



121 



present season, we first repeated onr experiments witli them in 

 order to verify our former results, and then sent them to the 



5 and 51^. — Synngeles picnta. Positions of mule approaehine fem lie (from ratiire). 



well-known arachuologist, Mr. J. H. Emerton, who made from 

 life the following sketches. To render them more intelligible, we 

 repeat the account of tlie love-dance given in our former paper. * 

 "These are ant-like spiders. The most important sexual 

 difference is the greater thickness of the first legs of the male. 

 These are flattened on the anterior surface and are of a brightly 



-SMiagele^ picata Male as lie appear^ fiom tbe side 

 when approaching female (from nature). 



iridescent steel-blue color. Unlike most of the Attid males this 

 species keeps all his feet on the ground during his courtship : 

 raising himself on the tips of the posterior six, he slightly 

 inclines his head downward b}'^ bending his front legs, their 

 convex surface being alwaj's turned forward. His abdomen 

 is lifted vertically so that it is at a right angle to the plane of the 

 cephalothorax. In this position he sways from side to side (Figs. 



^Occasional Papersof the Wisconsin Xat. Hist. Soc, p. 43 



