1974 ] Rovner & Knost — Wrapping of Prey 413 
spider is even more specialized for living on vegetation than are our 
Lycosa spp. 
Scopula hairs, which enable spiders to climb smooth surfaces, have 
been studied in lycosids, theraphosids, and other wandering spiders 
(Foelix and Chu-Wang, 1974). Since these structures are an im- 
portant adaptation for many of the spiders which spend their life on 
vegetation, they may serve as a morphological indicator of behavioral 
correlates o'f this life style, including post-immobilization prey-wrap- 
ping. Indeed, a scopula is present in those species in which this 
behavior has been seen. On the other hand, since scopula hairs on 
the tarsus and metatarsus are probably important for the capture 
and manipulation of prey (Rovner and Knost, in preparation), their 
presence may not always be indicative of habitat preference and 
related behaviors. 
Experimentally modified male L. rabida that are unable to achieve 
palpal insertions “tie-down” females during attempted copulation 
(Rovner, 1971), a behavior resembling post-immobilization wrapping 
of large prey. Male thomisid spiders perform a similar behavior as 
part of their normal pre-copulatory activity. (In neither case does 
the wrapping have any restraining effect on the female, who easily 
tears the threads and departs when the copulation is completed.) 
Perhaps the pre-copulatory wrapping in thomisids is a ritualized 
behavior derived from a present or past use of silk for wrapping 
prey in this family. 
Eberhard (1967) associated post-immobilization wrapping with 
certain primitive types of aerial web-building, similar to that ex- 
hibited by the present-day diguetid spiders. The behavior shown 
by our Lycosa spp. of the herbaceous stratum, and by other wander- 
ing spiders, suggests that the evolution of post-immobilization wrap- 
ping may not be as closely associated with the building of aerial webs 
as Eberhard had hypothesized. 
Summary 
Post-immobilization wrapping of large, single prey and groups of 
smaller prey occurs in Lycosa rabida and, to a lesser extent, Lycosa 
punctulata. Observation of these spiders in both the natural habitat 
and an artificial habitat indicated their preference for the herbaceous 
stratum. Post-immobilization wrapping is probably an adaptation for 
life in this stratum, since it reduces the possibility of losing prey when 
it is released from the cheliceral grasp. The swathing bands, at- 
tachment disks, and draglines involved in wrapping are produced 
