1976] Greenquist & Rovner — Spiders on Artificial Foliage 205 
onto blades of tall grass, prey-wrapping was slower than it had 
been on the broader, flat surfaces of the artificial foliage terraria 
(one-tailed /-test; / (4 6) = 2.922, P < 0.01). When the spiders were 
driven 90 mm or more from the feeding site (with a soft brush), 
they returned after as much as 2.5 min later in four out of six cases, 
and resumed feeding on the prey package still attached to the grass. 
On two occasions they came back by a different route than the one 
by which they had left. On another occasion a spider carried 
wrapped prey for 33 mm, dropped it (when touched by the brush), 
and continued on for another 85 mm. After 72 sec the spider re- 
turned to the drop site, although it id not find the prey, which had 
fallen to a point 30 mm below. 
Discussion 
Stratum choice. — The selective advantage for any species to 
carry on a major portion of its activity in a specific micro-habitat 
is that this prevents interspecific competition. Kuenzler (1958) 
found that vertical stratification separates L. rabida from the 
ground-dwelling lycosids. The same would be true later in the 
year when L. punctulata replaces L. rabida in the herbaceous 
stratum. The results of our laboratory study support the idea 
of differential use of two strata by lycosids. The herbaceous 
stratum-dwelling Lycosa spp. spend significantly more time rest- 
ing on the artificial foliage than the two Schizocosa spp., which 
are found in nature on woodland floors. 
While overall habitat selection was found to depend on the 
ability of various lycosid species to withstand desiccation (Cher- 
rett, 1964), the importance of the physical form of features within 
a lycosid’s habitat in determining their micro-habitat distribution 
was emphasized by the field studies of Duffey (1962, 1966) and 
the work of Richter (1970). We found that our lycosids spend 
dissimilar amounts of time, depending on species, in different 
strata under conditions of uniformly high relative humidity and 
minimal (if any) temperature and light gradients. Thus, our data 
provide laboratory support for the idea that a preference for 
structural features within the habitat can play an important role 
in the micro-habitat distribution of wandering spiders. 
In our experimental terraria (Fig. 1) foliage design had no effect 
on stratum choice (Table I). Density (solo vs. trio) had an effect 
only in L. rabida, the reason for which we do not know. (Unlike 
