156 



THE AMEBIC AN NATURALIST 



[Vol. XLIV 



The senses of sex-recognition are, accordingly, touch 

 in the first place and sight in the second, the latter im- 

 portant in only a few families. 



III. Details of the Courtship Phenomena 

 It will be convenient for our present purposes, for it 

 is based upon habitudinal differences, to divide the 

 species on which observations have been made into the 

 two categories of "snarers" and "hunters." The lit- 

 erature on the subject has been gleaned as thoroughly 

 as possible; and my new observations of the past summer 

 have been presented more fully than the others simply 

 because they are here given for the first time. 



In Dictyna volupis Keys, mature males and females 

 live together upon the web, which they appear to fabri- 

 cate in common; the male is somewhat larger. In two 

 cases the approach of the sexes was seen by me (1903) : 

 in one the male approached and seized the female; in 

 the other case a male came face to face with a female, 

 "then, each of them tapping upon the web with the 

 first two pairs of legs, they moved backward and forward 

 slowly. This lasted only two minutes, when they both 

 became quiet half an inch apart; it was repeated again 

 for a short period." These are the only observations 

 on any cribellate form, and they do not indicate clearly 

 whether rape or courtship by the male is the usual 

 process. 



For the Agelenids Menge (1S4.'>) described the ap- 

 proach of the male in Agelena labyrmthica as follows: 



male embraces her with his legs and carries her into 

 the funnel." In A. ruevia Walck., I saw the approach 



