SEXUAL SELECTION IN SPIDERS. 



IIO' 



II 1 I I stum, showiiij; 

 luU when approaching 



preaches the female, she all the time eying him most intently, 

 he raises the first pair of legs, swaying them backwarcj and, 

 forward, still keeping the third 

 pair well up, seeming as eager 

 to display them as the first 

 pair (Fig 2). In this way he 

 approaches to within about two 

 inches, when she rushes at him 

 and he retreats. The whole per- 

 formance is repeated. When he 

 gets to within an inch of her, he 

 lifts the first legs nearly at right 

 angles with the body, giving 

 them a bowed position, with the 



tips approaching each other, so that each leg describes a semi- 

 circle, while the palpi are held firmly together in front. Up 

 to this time he has held the body well above the ground, but 

 now he lowers it by spreading out the second and fourth pairs,, 

 at the same time bringing the tips of the third pair nearer the 

 body and arching the legs over the posterior part of the 

 cephalothorax in such a way that the proximal ends of the tibisa 

 nearly meet (Fig. 3). As he stands in this position the female,, 

 who is watching him eagerly, has the front surface of th& 

 apophysis plainly in view over the dorsal surface of the cephalo- 

 thorax, and his face and clypeus are also well 

 exposed (Fig, 4). Now he approaches her very 

 slowly, with a sort of creeping movement. 

 When almost near enough to touch her he 

 begins a very complicated movement with 

 the first pair of legs. Directing them 

 obliquely forward, he again and again rotates- 

 each leg around an imaginary point just 

 beyond the tip; when they are at the lowest 

 point of the circle he suddenly snaps the 

 tarsus and metatarsus upward, stiffening and raising the 

 leg and thus exposing more completely its under surface. 

 AVhile this is going on with the first pair, he is continu- 



Fig. 4.— Face of new 

 Habrocestum, showing 

 ornamentation {from 

 nature). 



