\r>2 



TEE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. XLIV 



be regarded as a sexual ornament ihal is exhibited to charm the female. 

 Further, it may be rioted that this position of the first pair of legs is 

 also assumed by the female when roughly handled or frightened; it is 

 an attitude of defense of the species, not of sexual exhibition. 



In Lycosa ocreata Hentz (L. stonei Montg.) the tibiae 

 of the first legs of the male are similarly provided with 

 a brush of hairs, and he is darker than the female, but 

 there is a pronounced courtship by the male consisting 

 of rhythmically repeated waving of these legs with a 

 jerking of the whole body backward and forward. Sight 

 plays a considerable part in the approach of the sexes, 

 but ' 1 apparently the first recognition of sex is by touch" 

 for the courtship does not commence until the male has 

 touched the female. In L. lepida (Keys.) the male is 

 smaller and more brightly colored, and exhibits a simple 

 courtship, shaking in the air his fore-legs that are only 

 slightly elevated above the ground (his body may be 

 prone). In L. scutulata Hentz there is "a decided court- 

 ship; the male differs from the female in his smaller 

 size and in the black color of a portion of his fore-legs, 

 and these legs (and the palpi also) are moved in a par- 

 ticular manner during the courtship. Observation shows 

 that the male recognizes the female as such at a distance 

 of at least six inches. The male's approach to the female 

 is very slow, a kind of creeping, not at all similar to the 

 vehement approach of certain other Lycosids. . . . The 

 female, if eager, gives the signal of willingness to the 

 male by touching him lightly with her first pair of legs, 

 when he immediately embraces. In the observed cases, 

 with one exception, the female killed the male at the end 

 of the copulation." In Pardosa nigropalpis Emerton the 

 males are smaller, and there "is a marked sexual color 

 difference, the male being deep black and the female 

 more brownish. . . . The advances are made by the 

 male, and there is a distinct courtship process, which a 

 vigorous male may maintain for two or three hours at 

 a time with few interruptions when the female is recal- 

 citrant. . . . The courtship motions are as follows: 



