THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



95 



Misumena does not spin a web, but conceals itself among 

 the flowers and pounces upon its unsuspecting prey while it is 

 collecting pollen or nectar. On the 16th day of July I had the 

 opportunity to observe the capture of a bumblebee which was 

 gathering pollen on a wild rose (Rosa lucid a) . My attention 

 was for a moment diverted but was recalled by the loud buzzing 

 O'f the bee. The spider had leaped upon its back and grasped 

 it with its madibles just behind the head. At first the bumble- 

 bee struggled violently but so virulent was the poison that its 

 movements speedily ceased entirely. The spider then dragged 

 it over the edge of the flower to the leaves beneath where it 

 dined at leisure. 



The temerity and success with which the Thomisidae at- 

 tack large butterflies, dragonflies, and stinging insects, as 

 wasps, bumblebees, and honeybees, is astonishing. Honeybees 

 are often captured and large flies belonging to the genera 

 Archytas and Therioflectcs and rarely the wasp Vespa Ger- 

 manica. In one case I observed that a small butterfly, Melitaea 

 tharos, had been taken. From Framingham, Mass., I have re- 

 ceived from Mr. C. A. Frost a number of very interesting spec- 

 imens together in each instance with the spider by which it was 

 killed. The dragonfly (Celitheinis eponina) the large butter- 

 fly, Papilio asterias, and the smaller species, Colias philodice, 

 were captured by Misumena vatia and the fly, Desinometopa 

 latipes, the wasp Vespa Germanica and the copper butterfly 

 Chrysophanus Americamis, were captured by M. aletaria. It 

 is difficult to understand why the spiders were not carried 

 away by such strong-winged insects as the dragonfly and the 

 large butterfly, which so greatly surpass them in size and 

 strength. 



The habit of resorting to flowers to capture anthophilous 

 insects and the protective resemblance of coloration must have 

 been acquired by the Thomisidae in comparatively recent times 



