1976] Greenquist & Rovner — Spiders on Artificial Foliage 197 
Spiders were collected in Athens Co., Ohio, USA, and main- 
tained under conditions described previously (Rovner and Knost, 
1974) . Adults of each species were examined during their natural 
season, i.e., when adults were abundant in the field. Studies 
were conducted in glass terraria (0.2 X 0.4 X 0.2 m high) contain- 
ing cardboard leaves with controlled surface areas and slopes. 
A 50-mm styrofoam layer on the bottom was covered with 5 mm 
of white sand, the latter being an inert substratum (Greenquist, 
1975) . Two cotton-stoppered vials provided drinking water. 
Cardboard plants, 0.18 m high and a mean width of 21 mm ± 6.0 
(range = 10-30 mm), were inserted into the styrofoam so that the 
tops reached within 10 mm of the glass lid. Three foliage designs 
were used (Fig. 1): 
Compound Design. This consisted of a vertical axis with one 
to four “leaf’ projections coming off at 60° relative to the hori- 
zontal when viewed from an edge perspective. The surface area 
of the 60° slopes equaled the surface area of the vertical blades. 
There were nine to eleven “plants” per terrarium. 
60° / 90° Simple Design. Individual vertical and 60° blades such 
that the surface area of the vertical slopes equaled that of the 60° 
slopes; ten vertical and nine 60° blades per terrarium. 
60° Simple Design. All blades positioned at 60°; eleven or 
twelve blades per terrarium. When viewed from a surface rather 
than an edge perspective, all the blades (or leaves) of all three 
designs pointed directly upward. 
The relative humidity in the terraria averaged 94% ± 3.8 and 
was maintained by a 250-ml bowl filled with cotton and distilled 
water. The high humidity minimized the possibility of a vertical 
gradient which otherwise might have influenced site selection, 
although Greenquist (1975) found that a difference of medium 
vs. high humidity levels (< 65% vs. > 85%) had no effect on stratum 
preference in L. punctulata. Temperature within the terraria 
averaged 26.7° ± 4.5. The hygrometer and thermometer were 
housed in a terrarium identical to the test terraria but without 
foliage and spiders. Photoperiod was not controlled. Leaf litter 
was placed in the bottom of several terraria of the woodland- 
dwelling S. saltatrix to see if this influenced stratum preference. 
Individual experiments were conducted from 9 to 14 days with 
one spider (“solo”) or three individually marked spiders of the 
