2i2 AMERICAN SPIDERS 



nursery until just before they hatch, at which time she suspends 

 the bag in the nursery. 



THE LYNX SPIDERS 



The lynx spiders of the family Oxyopidae are handsome hunters 

 that have become specialized for a life on plants. They run over 

 vegetation with great agility, leaping from stem to stem with a 

 precision excelled only by the true jumping spiders. A few are 

 more indolent, and sit in flowers or press their bodies close against 

 dried stems while they await the appearance of suitable prey. The 

 lynxes hunt mostly during the daytime, aided by a relatively keen 

 eyesight comparable to that of the wolf and fishing spiders. Al- 

 though they trail a dragline even when jumping, silk does not enter 

 much into their lives, and they never make use of webs to capture 

 their prey. 



The typical lynx is a strongly built creature with a high, oval 

 cephalothorax and a rounded abdomen tapering to a point be- 

 hind. Its thin legs are all about the same length, quite long, and 

 armed with long black spines. The tarsi always lack brushes of 

 hairs, but the absence of such pads does not seem to detract from 

 its climbing ability. It has dark eyes placed either in two rows so 

 strongly curved that they seem to form a circle, or in four rows 

 of two each. They are unequal in size, the anterior median pair 

 being very small and some of the others quite large, as befits the 

 spider's active, diurnal life. 



The lynx spiders are best represented in warmer regions; but 

 more than a dozen species occur within the limits of the United 

 States, and a few are common far into the north. One of the con- 

 spicuous varieties is the green lynx, Peucetia viridans (Plate 29 and 

 Plate XXVII), which is abundant in the southern states from coast 

 to coast, and also occurs in Mexico and Central America, where it 

 is the commonest and most widely distributed member of its group. 

 The female is a large spider often three fourths of an inch in length, 

 and her slender mate is not far inferior in size. Peucetia is usually 

 colored a bright transparent green variegated with rows of small 

 red spots. A red patch usually adorns the face between the eyes. 

 Rows of long, black spines are a conspicuous feature of the thin 

 legs, which are ringed with red at the joints. 



Most of the examples from the eastern states are tinted the same 



