i86 
Psyche 
[September 
it anchors its last pair of legs on the silk base and uses the other 
legs to grasp the silk near the prey and pull it toward its chelicerae. 
The struggling of the prey, combined with the pulling of the spider, 
often thoroughly entangles the prey. When it has pulled the prey 
close, the spider lunges forward and bites it repeatedly, frequently 
touching the prey with its pedipalps. Occasionally the spider may 
lunge at the prey without first pulling on it. It may also bite the 
prey and hold on for 2-3 minutes before releasing it. 
After the prey is dead (2-10 minutes), the spider usually cuts it 
out of the web with its chelicerae, carries it back to the web base, 
and assumes its usual resting position. It then feeds, holding the 
prey only with its chelicerae. After feeding, the spider simply drops 
the prey remains out of the web. 
One prey, an immature Homoptera, was rejected after being 
killed. The spider cut it out of the web and allowed it to drop out. 
On no occasion did I observe H. thorelli wrap prey or otherwise 
use silk to subdue prey, though I did observe one peculiar use of 
silk. A Hypochilus attacked and killed a small gnaphosid spider, 
then cut it out of the web. It placed the smaller spider against its 
spinnerets, where it was held by silk. The spider then climbed back 
to the web base and pressed the gnaphosid against the base sheet, 
where it remained attached. The spider then went back to the at- 
tack site and began repairing the web. 
Prey. I collected 40 different prey remains from H. thorelli 
webs. Insect families represented were Tipulidae (8), Formicidae 
(4), Gryllacrididae (2), Ptilodactylidae, Cerambycidae, Lampyridae, 
and Cicadellidae (one each). Nine specimens could only be identi- 
fied to order: Diptera (6), Coleoptera, Trichoptera, Lepidoptera 
(one each). Other arthropods included 9 opilionids and 4 spiders 
(one gnaphosid, one lycosid, one Hypochilus , and one Antrodiaetus.) 
The most common prey, opilionids (daddy-longlegs) and tipulids 
(crane flies), are extremely abundant in the situations in which H. 
thorelli constructs its webs. Ants (Formicidae) are also common on 
rock faces. Cave crickets (Gryllacrididae) are also abundant, but 
are apparently usually able to avoid H. thorelli webs. At Wolf 
Creek, I observed a number of cave crickets leaving a deep crevice, 
at the mouth of which was a large Hypochilus web. The long an- 
tennae of the cave crickets enabled them to detect the web before 
they could become entangled. 
The single case of cannibalism occurred with captive specimens. 
One female left her box compartment before building a web and 
wandered into the adjacent compartment containing a female that 
