LOVE DANCES OF 8ALTIGRADBS, 55 



two varieties were seen to compete for the female, the black male was suc- 

 cessful. He is bolder in his manners, and was never seen to assume the 

 prone position as did the red form when close to the female. He always 

 held one or both of the first legs high in the air (Fig. 31), waving them 

 wildly to and fro ; or, when the female became excited, he stood perfectly 

 motionless before her, sometimes for a whole minute, seeming to fascinate 

 her by the power of his glance. 



The male of Icius mitratus is quite different from the female, especially 

 in his slender tapering body and long first legs. The female is remark- 

 able for her indifference, and takes less interest in the male's display of 

 his personal charms than any spider observed. In courting and fighting, 

 the position of the male is the same ; the body is somewhat raised ; the 

 first legs are held at a right angle to the cephalothorax ; the abdomen is 

 twisted to one side, and, as he dances before his lady love, is changed now 

 to the right, now to the left.i (Fig. 33.) 



It is interesting to find that these amorous displays on the part of 

 males have recently been observed in other invertebrates. Mr. T. H. Mor- 

 gan thus describes the performance of a male crab (Platyonychus 

 Love ocollatus) in paying his courtship to the lady crab. The specimens 



tVi^^M ^ ™^^™ confined together in an aquarium. While sketching some 

 Crab hermit crabs which had previously been placed in the same tank, 



the observer was attracted by the movements of the male Platy- 

 onychus. Without apparent cause he was seen to rise upon the third and 

 fourth pairs of legs ; his large chcte were thrown above his head, with the 

 claws open and their points touching in the middle line; his fifth pair of 

 feet were held horizontally behind, and his body perpendicular to the floor 

 of the aquarium, or at right angles to the normal position. 



The posture was ludicrous, and when he began slowly to gj'rate, his 

 movements and attitude were the cause of much merriment upon the part 

 of the spectators. At times he balanced on two legs of one side, again on 

 two legs of opposite sides. Now he advanced slowlj'^ and majestically, and 

 now he wheeled in circles in the sand on the floor of the aquarium, and 

 now for a few moments he stood as if transfixed in this unnatural posi- 

 tion. An electric light hung above and to one side of the water, which 

 suggested the possibility that it might be the exciting cause. It was turned 

 out, and still the dancing went on. At last, from sheer exhaustion. Mon- 

 sieur Crab sank down to the sand in his usual attitude. 



But now the female, who had all this time remained tucked away in 

 the sand, came forth and began to move about the aquarium ; soon she 

 came near to the male crab, who instantly rose to his feet and began to 

 dance. Again and again the performance was repeated, and each time the 

 approach of the female was the signal for the male to rear upon his hind 

 feet, and reel about the aquarium as if intoxicated. 



' Idem, page 50. 



