THE SENSE OF SIGHT IN SPIDERS WITH SOME OBSER¬ 
VATIONS ON THE COLOR SENSE. 
GEORGE W. AND ELIZABETH G. PECKHAM. 
But few observations have been made upon spiders to deter¬ 
mine their range of vision. According to Plateau, the German 
physiologist Muller credited them with distinct vision at a 
short distance, and so also did Lacordaire. Among modern 
naturalists, M. Eugene Simon speaks of the genus Lycosa as 
possessed of good powers of sight, 1 and as Simon has passed 
very many years in the study of this group his opinion is en¬ 
titled to great weight. Dahl believes that a jumping spider 
(Attus arcuatus), saw a small fly, eight inches away. 2 Hentz, 
from a study of Marptusa familiaris, says that the sight of 
spiders, though acute, is not unerring. 3 The Rev. Dr. McCook, 
who has made a special study of the habits of spiders says: 
“No one who has watched them (jumping spiders) stalking 
prey during the day could well fail to conclude that they were 
guided by a tolerably accurate sense of sight. * * * 
So also with Citigrades. I have seen young Dolomedes sex- 
punctatus leap from the side of a box and catch a fly on the 
wing, and return to its perch by the rebound of its drag line. 
Such an act not only shows ability to see but also some faculty 
to estimate distance, unless we suppose it to have been a chance 
shot. 4 
Also Bingley says of the jumping spider: “If it sees a fly at 
the distance of three or four yards, it does not run directly 
to it, but endeavors, as much as possible, to conceal itself till 
it can arrive near; and then creeping slowly up, and but seldom 
missing its aim, it springs upon the insect’s back, and it is 
1 Historie Naturelle des Araignees, First Edition, p. 364. 
2 Versuch einer Darstellung der psychischen Vorgange in den 
Spinnen. Vierteljahrschrift f. Wissenschaftl. Philosophie, pp. 94,“95, 
IX, I, 1884. 
3 Spiders of the United States, p. 57. 
4 American Spiders and their Spinning Work, Vol. II, p. 286. 
