ANIMAL COURTSHIP.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19957, 26 November 1926, Page 17

ANIMAL COURTSHIP.

LOVE DANCE OF SPIDEIU SOME STRANGE MATINGS. “One touch ol Nature makes the whole world kin,” quoted Professor Julian Huxley, leader of the younger school of biologists, in a lecture at Oxford recently, on the courtship of animals. In which he gave instances of extraordinary resemblance of human actions (states the Dally Mall). At the base of the animal scale courtship did not exist. Its first signs were seen in nuptial dances of certain marine bristleworms, in which at certain seasons of the year and phases of the moon the worms come up out of their crannies in the rocks and gather in groups while excited males swim round the females. In the higher orders there are definite acts of courtship. The fiddler-crab has a big claw brightly coloured which weighs as much as the rest of his body. When the female crab passes the male stands on tiptoe with the big claw held rigidly aloft. If the female takes no notice the male runs off to a place where she can see him and strikes the same statuesque pose. Hunting spiders perform strange dances before the females. In one species of hunting spider the male offers the female a nice fly neatly wrapped in silk. It put in a box by himself with a fly, he will eat It, but If there Is a fly and a female, he wraps and offers it; and if in a box from which a female has recently been removed and in which her odour still lingers, he will wrap up his present and search like Shellev with his bouquet “that be might there present It—oh, to whom?" Among the web-spin-ning spiders the females are often blind and the male clambers up the web of the female and vibrates one of the tfcreads in a special manner—quite different from the vibrations made by a trapped prey. If these indications wore not made, the female would simply treat the male like any other small living object and eat him. The male Is always very, ready to run away during the earlier phases of courtship. In one species of carnivorous fly strange developments ot the love gift have taken place. Frogs sing In the mating season, and grasshoppers are life’s first instrumentalists. In birds, courtship and display have reached their highest elaboration. The ruif Is a notable examp e. Arrived at their breeding places, the cooks assemble at a definite spot. When no hens are present the male birds dance, spar, and fight with each other. When a hen arrives they crouch down motionless on the ground with flat wings. The hen might simply preen herself, stroll round, and fly away again, after which the cocks rise rather sheepishly, from their prostrate positions and pretend that nothing has been going on. But if she approaches a cock and nibbles the feathers of his neck, mating la accomplished. Among birds who select a definite terrltorv in which to nest, and from which they drive out other cocks, there Is an engagement period in the spring lasting for some weeks after the cock and hen are in possession of their new residence. After some weeks of mutual occupation, the cock spreads his tall, puffs his feathers, bows, and offers the hen some present, such as a leaf or a piece ot meat. Other birds perform courtships by dancing, and both cock and hen join in Among elephants a pleasant mutual courtship of trunk caressing has been observed, and when we move up towards homo sapiens and reach the monkeys and apes there is a number of definite display characteristics among the males.