40 
Psyche 
[Vol. 93 
curved tip which breaks off in mating and remains in the female 
connecting duct. Whether it serves only as a plug or perhaps is a 
spermatophore is not known. 
Almost all females had one tip on each side in the epigynum, none 
were seen with two. Females appear to mate only once. Very few 
males with a missing tip are in collections. Apparently they do not 
survive mating. 
Variation. Dorsal coloration of the abdomen of females of both 
species is quite variable, sometimes all white (in alcohol). The tail of 
the female abdomen may be shortened or blunt or long and is at 
times turned up. 
Habits. The web of Witica crassicauda was found to be fairly 
common in a coffee plantation at about 1000 m altitude in Puerto 
Rico. It is built between trees about 1.5 meters apart, the hub 1.5 
meters above the ground, the orb 30 to 35 cm horizontal diameter. 
The hub is open. There is a short vertical stabilimentum and the 
frame threads below the orb have whitish decorations, flattened 
threads as seen under a magnifying lens. The spider hangs in the 
hub, head down (Figure 17); there is no retreat. In Panama and 
Costa Rica the spider is common in low elevation forests; it does not 
make a stabilimentum, nor decorations on lines. The egg-sac, made 
in a vial, was fluffy, yellowish white, the size of the spider and 
contained about 200-250 lemon-yellow eggs. 
Key to species 
1 Females 2 
_ Males 3 
2(1) Median septum of epigynum as wide or wider than depression 
on each side (Figs. 4, 8); mated females show tubes, the ends of 
embolus tip on sides of septum (Figs. 4, 8); West Indies, Mex- 
ico to South America (Map) crassicauda. 
Median septum of epigynum narrower than depressions (Figs. 
7, 13); tip of embolus never visible in depressions. Trinidad, 
South America (Map) cayana. 
3(1) Base of tip of palpal embolus swollen and with spur (Fig. 14); 
Trinidad, South America (Map) cavana. 
Base of tip of palpal embolus a curved tube (Fig. 9); West 
Indies, Mexico to South America (Map) crassicauda. 
