Insects copulate

at the hinder end, and the smaller individuals
mount the larger; and the smaller individual is I I is the male. The
female pushes from underneath her sexual organ into the body of the
male above, this being the reverse of the operation observed in
other creatures; and this organ in the case of some insects appears to
be disproportionately large when compared to the size of the body, and
that too in very minute creatures; in some insects the disproportion
is not so striking. This phenomenon may be witnessed if any one will
pull asunder flies that are copulating; and, by the way, these
creatures are, under the circumstances, averse to separation; for
the intercourse of the sexes in their case is of long duration, as may
be observed with common everyday insects, such as the fly and the
cantharis. They all copulate in the manner above described, the fly,
the cantharis, the sphondyle, (the phalangium spider) any others of
the kind that copulate at all. The phalangia-that is to say, such of
the species as spin webs-perform the operation in the following way:
the female takes hold of the suspended web at the middle and gives a
pull, and the male gives a counter pull; this operation they repeat
until they are drawn in together and interlaced at the hinder ends;
for, by the way, this mode of copulation suits them in consequence
of the rotundity of their stomachs.