No. 519] 



THE COURTSHIP OF ARANEADS 



165 



In the case of courtship by touch, the simplest form, in 

 Drassids, Dictyna and some Agelenids, is that where the 

 male after recognizing a female by touch taps her rapidly 

 with his feet until she either runs from him or else be- 

 comes quiet and submissive to his embrace. The more 

 complex form is found among the snare-makers, espe- 

 cially epeirids and theridiids, and the courtship is by 

 signal pulls upon the lines of the snare; in this way the 

 male not only locates the position of the female upon her 

 snare, but he also ascertains whether she is eager for him, 

 for when she is eager she returns his signals in the same 

 way. 



Courtship by sight is found most highly developed in 

 the attids, less complicated in the more corpuscular ly- 

 cosids, but not at all in the diurnal thomisids ; it is not, 

 accordingly, characteristic of all diurnal species. The 

 courtship movements of the male range from a simple 

 waving of the first leg pair, or waving of these and the 

 palpi, to much more complicated movements of these 

 parts associated with peculiar posturings, advances and 

 retreats, and side-wheeling. 



This brings us to the important question, just what 

 psychical and physiological elements enter into the court- 

 ship? We can most clearly discuss this by considering 

 the sexes in turn. Without question the chief psychical 

 condition is sexual desire, in the case of the male, result- 

 ing from a physiological state due to internal secretions at 

 the time of maturity. But with it is associated an inhib- 

 iting factor, the male's fear of the female. When the 

 male is as strong as the female he exhibits no special fear 

 of her, she is rather distinctly timorous towards him, 

 then he does not court but seizes her by force. But in 

 most species the male is smaller, in some cases very much 

 smaller, than the female, and in all such instances he 

 indicates great caution in approaching her, which is a 

 demonstration of fear on his part. Adult females are 

 decidedly more pugnacious than males, and contests be- 

 tween females are generally fatal to one* of the contest- 



