LIFE CYCLE OF MALE TARANTULA 



113 



in proportion to the body, those of the 

 female, and the palpi were relatively long 

 and slender like those of a female. When 

 he went through the last molt he emerged 

 from the old skin, a mature and fully 

 equipped male. The suddenness with 

 which he changed from the state of 

 adolescence to ripe manhood is striking. 

 His transformation, coupled with the 

 fact, already mentioned, that all the 



web and presumably charged his palpal 

 organs. Ten days later (September 7), a 

 second web was made; five days later a 

 third (September iz); and eighteen days 

 later (September 30), a fourth. This 

 last web was made twenty-four hours 

 after he had mated with one of the females 

 in the laboratory. The making of this 

 fourth web, his last one, I was able to 

 observe. 



Fiq. 3. Sperm Web in Battery Jar 

 (Drawing by David G. Hall) 



males brought into the laboratory died 

 soon after the mating season, explains 

 why adult males are never seen out of 

 doors except at mating time. 



MAKING THE SPERM WEB 



After attaining maturity the male is 

 not slow to realize Nature's purpose in his 

 life. On the sixth day after the last 

 molt (August 2.8), he made his first sperm 



The web was made in a battery jar nine 

 inches in diameter. On one side the web 

 was fastened to the soil at the bottom, 

 and on the other side on the wall of the 

 jar. The male began weaving at 9: 2.0 a.m. 

 As his abdomen swung right and left, 

 the spinnerets moved gracefully up and 

 down, touching here and there to fasten 

 the threads. With the hind legs, he felt 

 for the proper place of attachment of 



