THE QUARTERLY REVIEW OF BIOLOGY 





threads, determined where the web 

 needed to be strengthened, and outlined 

 in a general way the two openings. This 

 weaving was done while the male stood 

 over the web, and was finished in forty 

 minutes. The male now turned around 

 several times while examining and rein- 

 forcing the web, and then facing towards 

 the large opening and putting the first two 

 pair of legs forward, he moved forward 

 and turning over on his back slid easily 

 through the large hole, under the web. 

 Thereupon he turned around, remaining 

 on his back but facing again towards the 

 large opening. 



After resting for about one minute, he 

 proceeded with the second stage in the 

 construction . This is done while the male 

 is on his back, and is mainly the strength- 

 ening of the margin around the 

 small oval opening, and in particular 

 the narrow band between this opening and 

 the large one. This band when finished 

 is quite thick, and densely woven, much 

 more so than the rest of the web. This 

 stage of the construction was finished in 

 fifteen minutes, and the web was 

 completed . 



Then the male brought the ventral 

 surface of the abdomen up against the web, 

 so that the margin of the genital opening 

 was in contact with the narrow band 

 between the two openings in the web. 

 By moving the abdomen from side to side 

 and pressing against the band, he rubbed 

 the margin of the genital opening for a 

 period of twenty minutes. During this 

 time he was also stroking the genital 

 bulbs . The fangs were partly opened and 

 the bulbs were drawn through between 

 the fang and the row of teeth. This 

 process seemed very thorough and elabo- 

 rate. The hair near the fangs appeared 

 rather shiny, but careful examination 

 through a binocular lupe failed to show 



any moisture. From time to time in this 

 stroking process the fangs would open 

 wider than usual and gently clasp 

 the distal portion or tarsus of the 

 palpus. 



The process of rubbing the margin of 

 the genital opening (doubtless for the 

 purpose of stimulating the sex glands) 

 and stroking of the genital bulbs contin- 

 ued for fifteen to twenty minutes. Then 

 the droplet of spermatic fluid appeared in 

 the genital opening and was deposited 

 on the under side of the narrow band. 

 Thereupon the male speedily came out 

 from under the web, got on his feet, 

 turned around and proceeded at once with 

 the tapping or charging of the genital 

 bulbs. Sitting over the web so that his 

 cephalothorax projected partly over the 

 smaller opening, he tapped with the tips 

 of the bulbs alternately in the drop of 

 spermatic fluid on the under side of the 

 narrow band. At first the tapping was 

 slightly irregular, but soon it proceeded 

 with an almost machine-like regularity, 

 each palpus beating at the rate of 135 to 

 1 50 taps a minute. 



The charging of the genital bulbs 

 occupied the male for an hour and forty- 

 five minutes. Towards the end of the 

 process, he tapped a bit slower, then 

 walked around a bit, tapping here and 

 there as if to make sure that all the fluid 

 had been taken up. Then he seized the 

 web with both fangs, pulled backward, 

 and stooping down to get a better hold on 

 the web, he walked forward and took 

 practically all of it with him. After 

 tapping the ground a few times with his 

 palpi he settled down to rest. Later in 

 the afternoon, I placed a female in the jar 

 with the male, but he was not in the 

 mood for mating. On the afternoon of 

 the following day, this was tried again 

 and mating took place. 



