No. 510] THE COURTSHIP OF Alt AN E A DS 



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of the male in two cases; in both there was nothing "to 

 indicate a courtship; there was simply a cautious ap- 

 proach of the male," he touched her with his first legs, 

 "and after he had found no sign of hostility on the 

 part of the female he quickly seized her, and she was 

 absolutely submissive in his grasp." In Trnnunia 

 durhami Scop., in several cases, the male was seen by 

 me to slowly approach the female upon her web, he 

 tapping the latter with his fore legs as he advanced, the 

 female occasionally also tapping in response, after which 

 he would make a sudden rush at her. In these agelenids 

 there are no courtship motions beyond tapping on the 

 web, to which the female may respond, in like manner; 

 the male seems to find her by touch, and after a cautious 

 approach to seize her forcibly. 



In Pholcus phalangioides Fuessl. I found (1903) no 

 courtship; the male approaches the female very cau- 

 tiously upon her web, and touches her gently with his 

 legs; he always approaches her from beneath, and im- 

 mediately drops from the web if she move at his touch. 

 He finds her position by carefully pulling the lines of 

 the snare. 



In the theridiids a number of observations have been 

 described. Menge (1843) found in Linyphia triangularis 

 that the approaching male shakes the snare rapidly, to 

 which the female responds by a similar motion. In 

 Theridium tepidariorum C. Koch I have seen (1903) the 

 approach of the sexes many times; when a male is placed 

 upon a web of the female, she immediately signals to 

 him by repeated jerks upon the lines of the web, some- 

 times moving towards him. This signalling is a sign 

 of eagerness on her part, and "she makes it at no other 

 time than when she is eager and notices the approach of 

 a male of her own species. . . . The whole attitude of 

 the male is that of combined timidity and great eager- 

 ness. ... He tests the eagerness of the female, and 

 finds her position upon the web, by grasping with the 

 daws of his first pair of feet the web lines that she is 



