These little radiant spiders live amongst flowers and foliage, and here they chase such small insects as their size allows them to cope with. Besides running, they make little leaps into the air, and so, if they can manage it, come down on their prey, for which reason they are often called “jumping spiders.” This is a very different mode of action from that of remaining perfectly still till a butterfly or other insect happens to settle on one, and it is accordingly instructive to find that, great as is the beauty of these flower-haunting spiders, yet it does not resemble that of the flowers amongst which it is displayed. The iridescent flashes and sparkles more resemble those of the mineral than of the vegetable world—where, indeed, they hardly exist—and must serve, as well as their active movements, to point them out to their enemies even amidst a background of flowers. It is not upon principles of protection, therefore, or to acquire a dissembling resemblance that such bright brilliancy has been developed in these little creatures. Since, therefore, these spiders could not have become beautiful on any principle of protective or aggressive resemblance, nor yet of warning coloration, for which there would here be no opening, and had yet become beautiful in a high degree, they seemed to Professor and Mrs. Peckham to offer a good subject for the testing of the theory of sexual selection, and deciding as to whether Darwin or Wallace was right in that matter. After several months of careful, and often very laborious observation—rewarded, however, by the most interesting results—they have given their answer, and this answer, resting as it does on the most irrefragable evidence, should be decisive for all time. It may safely be asserted that anyone who, after reading the “Peckham paper,” as it may well be called, is not convinced both that the male spiders of this beautiful family woo the females by displaying their beauty before them, and that the females carefully watch the display, accepting only such as please them sufficiently and rejecting the others, never will be convinced, since only by the spiders actually speaking, which is not likely to happen, could the evidence be bettered. If, indeed, the female had been heard to say “Pretty i’ faith,” or “You are a fine young man,” just before her actions gave clear, or still clearer indication that this was in her mind, had she murmured “Take me” as she let herself be taken, and had the male asked, after the way common in novels, “Was it my abdomen or the stripes on my palpi that made you first fall in love with me?” then, perhaps, even those who believe that the higher spiritual love is for man alone would have been converted—and yet I know not, since assertions so unlikely in themselves might have flung doubt on the whole paper.