. Animate creation : popular edition of "Our living world" : a natural history. Zoology; Zoology. WEB OF THE THOMISUS. 501 compared with those of the female, all courtship is conducted under the most unexpected difficulties. A male in love is equally a male in a fright, for if his addresses are not received favorably, he runs a great chance of Ijeing eaten on the spot. And even when he has not been repulsed, he still stands in great danger ; for many of the Aracimidan beauties are as cruelly deceitful as the enchantress of the " Arabian Nights," and kill their lovers ruthle
. Animate creation : popular edition of "Our living world" : a natural history. Zoology; Zoology. WEB OF THE THOMISUS. 501 compared with those of the female, all courtship is conducted under the most unexpected difficulties. A male in love is equally a male in a fright, for if his addresses are not received favorably, he runs a great chance of Ijeing eaten on the spot. And even when he has not been repulsed, he still stands in great danger ; for many of the Aracimidan beauties are as cruelly deceitful as the enchantress of the " Arabian Nights," and kill their lovers ruthlessly as soon as they have granted their prayers. So, as Alphonse Karr well remarks, the stereotyped exclamation of "Love me, or I die !" is by no means a metaphor, but a simple enunciation of a fact. When Spiders of nearly equal powers fight with each other, the battle rages vehemently, and if the weaker can escape with life, it is sure to have lost several of its limbs. As with the crustaceans, iiowever, the deprivation is only temporary, for the severed members are repro- duced ; and though they hardly seem to attain the same dimensions as the original limbs, are yet to a degree serviceable. The Spiders belonging to the genus Thomisus are, like the hunting-spiders, dependent for their subsistence on their bodily powers and activity. Some, which are rather slow of limb, are in the habit of con- cealing themselves un- der leaves or in crevices, and thence pouncing suddenly on the insects that venture too near the treacherous pre- cincts, but the gener- ality are active creat- ures, running about swiftly, and much re- sembling the saltici in their movements. Some- times these creatures are popularly called Crab-spiders, because they can move in any direction without needing to turn their bodies. Fig. A of the accompanying illustration shows one of the common species of Thomisus. It is mostly found on the ground, or lurking among the foliage of old pasture-land. In its
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Keywords: ., bookauthorbr, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectzoology
