210 AMERICAN SPIDERS 



After watching for some little time, I saw a small fish swim 

 towards the stone and pass under the outstretched legs of the 

 spider. The spider made a swift and sudden plunge. Its long legs, 

 head, and body went entirely under water, the legs were thrown 

 around the fish with wonderful rapidity, and in a moment the 

 powerful fangs were piercing the body of the fish. The spider 

 at once brought its catch to the rocks, and began without delay 

 to eat it. Slowly, but surely, the fish began to disappear, and 

 after the lapse of some time the repast was over. 29 



Frequently the fisher spider is able to land its prize only after 

 a prolonged struggle, during much of which it may be completely 

 submerged and hanging on grimly to the struggling fish. The pre- 

 digestion and eating of the prey must be accomplished on land, since 

 the digestive juices of the spider would be diluted and lost in water. 



The pisaurids are not all noted for their amphibious activities; 

 many, while abundant in moist areas, do not enter the water itself. 

 The best-known American example is Pisaurina mira, a fisher spider 

 of open woodland that often wanders far from water. About half 

 an inch long when full-grown, Pisaurina is a very pretty spider 

 extremely variable in its color and pattern. Its most common shade 

 is a light yellow-brown, marked the whole length of cephalo- 

 thorax and abdomen by a wide darker band bordered by white. 

 Pisaurina is frequently found on bushes and low vegetation. 



Other species of this series have become elongate spiders mark- 

 edly resembling the slender crab spiders of the genus Tibellus. 

 Several kinds are found living on vegetation in the extreme southern 

 portions of the United States. Their bodies are a very pale yellow, 

 and are in some instances marked with narrow longitudinal lines 

 of darker color. When at rest they lie with their long legs closely 

 appressed to the surface of stems. At least one exotic group of 

 these spiders, the genus Euprosthenops of Africa, builds a funnel 

 and sheet web similar to those of the grass spiders. This snare is 

 often more than a square yard in extent, spreading over the 

 branches of shrubby acacias with the funnel near the ground; and 

 Euprosthenops is reputed to hunt on the underside of the sheet as 

 do the true sheet-spinning sedentary types such as Linyphia. By this 

 use of silk far exceeding that of the true wolf spiders, the pisaurids 



29 Newspaper article by Nendick Abraham quoted by E. C. Chubb, "Fish- 

 eating Habits of a Spider," Nature, Vol. 91 (1913), p. 136. 



