166 ASSOCIATION OF ORGANISMS—THE WEB OF LIFE 
strongly developed in the males. Nor can it well be deemed as 
probable that they are here the sought and not the seekers, for 
we should then expect to find the eyes of the female better 
developed ‘than those of the opposite sex, but this is not the case. 
COURTSHIP AND MATING OF SPIDERS (ARANEIDA) 
The lot of a male spider is not altogether desirable, for he is 
much smaller than his prospective partner, who sometimes makes 
a meal of him. It is scarcely worth while in this case to make 
separate headings of the Laws of Battle and Beauty, for both 
may find their application at the same time. Dr. and Mrs. 
Peckham have investigated this subject as regards species of the 
family of Hunting Spiders (4¢tzdz). Their observations, some 
of which are quoted below (from Papers of the Natural History 
Society of Wrsconsin, 1889), are intensely interesting, and clearly 
prove that the females of various species do not mate at random 
with any swain that offers, often being exceedingly fastidious, and 
sometimes tragically cruel. The males generally possess special 
markings and ornaments, which they display in ways that often 
appear grotesque; they also perform complex evolutions, some 
of these being rather weird “dances” (fig. 1122), of which one 
(for Saztzs pulex) is thus described:—‘ He saw her as she stood 
perfectly still, 12 inches away; the glance seemed to excite him, 
and he moved toward her; when some 4 inches from her he 
stood still, and then began the most remarkable performances 
that an amorous male could offer to an admiring female. She 
eyed him eagerly, changing her position from time to time so 
that he might be always in view. He, raising his whole body on 
one side by straightening out the legs, and lowering it on the 
other by folding the first two pair of legs up and under, leans so 
far over as to be in danger of losing his balance, which he only 
maintained by sidling rapidly towards the lowered side. The 
palpus, too, on this side was turned back to correspond to the 
direction of the legs nearest it (see fig. 1122). He moved ina 
semicircle for about 2 inches, and then instantly reversed the 
position of the legs and circled in the opposite direction, gradually 
approaching nearer and nearer to the female. Now she dashes 
towards him, while he, raising his first pair of legs, extends them 
upward and forward to hold her off, but withal slowly retreats. 
