264 
Psyche 
[September 
The first nymphs appeared in the webs in middle March (March 
20, 1967, and March 18, 1968). Hatching must continue until 
June since large numbers of first instar nymphs were seen in the webs 
until that time. 
The first adults were seen on May 29, 1967, and on May 3, 1968. 
At this time, all stages of nymphs and adults were seen on the webs 
concurrently. The adults were seen in the webs until September 10, 
1967, and August 30, 1968. From one to as many as forty mirids 
occurred on a single web, depending on its size. 
The mirids were active in the daylight hours, even on the hottest 
days, and walked or ran rapidly on the web. They appeared to move 
randomly over it, searching for food, and were found equally often 
in sun or shade. They were inactive at night, staying motionless in 
one place. This was possibly due to the disturbance caused by the 
spider being on the platform at night. The mirids were found on both 
sides of the web platform, and they walked and ran equally well 
either upright on the top of the web or inverted on the bottom. The 
tarsal claws (Fig. 1 C) are well adapted for this. The claw can be 
either held straight down, parallel to the tarsus, for walking on 
top of the web or turned in, almost perpendicular to the tarsus, for 
hanging under the web. There is also a small ridged area, at the 
base of the claw, which may aid in walking on top of the web or 
hanging from it. 
The mirids did not try to avoid the spiders. They usually moved 
slowly across the web, their antennae moving up and down rapidly 
ahead of them in constant motion. One nymph was observed walking 
in front of an adult spider, less than one centimeter away, on the 
same side of the web. The spider took no notice of it. As reported 
by Worth (1967) in his observations on Arcichnicorus , the nabids 
were in no danger of becoming stuck in dry silk webs. This was 
also true of the present spider-mirid association. 
The hedge partially protected most of the webs from wind and 
rain, but the exposed part of the webs was badly damaged by these 
elements. The mirids moved to the part of the web back under the 
hedge when rain or wind started. 
The insects were observed feeding on both plant and animal ma- 
terial caught in the webs. They fed both upright on top of the web 
and hanging inverted on the lower side with the beak inserted through 
the web. They were seen feeding on a variety of insects trapped in 
the webs or tied to it by the spiders. Some of the more common 
hosts included leaf hoppers (Cicadellidae) , katydid nymphs (Tet- 
tigoniidae), blow flies (Calliphoridae) , and crane flies (Tipulidae). 
