“Till the happy ‘yes’ falters from her mouth,”
almost as exciting, though not quite so detailed, as the climax scene of a latter-day novel.
1. A solitary spider dancing before its mate.
2. A cockroach attacking an astonished scorpion. Its weapons are the spines on its powerful hind legs.
Of the courtship of another species—Habrocestum splendens—we have the following account: “The male, a magnificent fellow when we first caught him, displayed for a long time before the female. He began by advancing a few inches before her, and then backing off again, this being repeated many times. After a while he settled down under a little web in the corner. The female, troubled by this indifferent treatment, advanced towards him; he came out and she fell back. This play was kept up for some time, but at length the male began his courting in earnest. When within a few inches of her he began a rapid dance from side to side, raising the whole body high on the tips of the legs, the first pair being directed forward and the palpi clasped together, with the abdomen turned to one side and lifted up. After a short dance he stood motionless, striking an attitude and remaining quiet for half a minute. Then he turned his back on her, moving irregularly about, with his legs forward and his palpi vibrating. Again he dances sideways before her, strutting and showing off like a peacock, or whirling around and around.”[[133]]
On such occasions the female would “commonly move nearer to him and appear much excited herself. We at first supposed that this turning around was accidental, but it happened so regularly at a certain stage of the courtship that we concluded it was an important part of the display, serving to better show off his brilliant abdomen.”[[133]] Of this there can hardly be a doubt, since on every occasion the male spider, whatever his species, assumed such attitudes as displayed his best points to the best advantage—a fact which recalls the following passage in one of Darwin’s letters: “I am very glad to hear of your cases of the two sets of Hesperiadæ (a butterfly), which display their wings differently, according to which surface is coloured. I cannot believe that such display is accidental or purposeless.”