106 AMERICAN SPIDERS 



stalled in the center of the tangle of threads, completely safe from 

 flying predators, which could not reach it without becoming en- 

 meshed in the lines. And from entangled insects of many kinds the 

 spider was securing its food. The aerial web spinners (p. 157) be- 

 came specialists for life on silken lines, modifying the unpaired 

 claws of the tarsi into effective hooks. 



Many spiders remained creatures of the soil, and for running or 

 climbing made little or no use of the unpaired claw. Some of these 

 hunters (p. 193) lost the unpaired claw, developing instead adhesive 

 claw tufts that allow great ease of climbing. 



