Spiders in ecological webs. There has long been a need for a synthesis and evaluation of the work that has been done on spider ecology. This book makes a good start on filling that need. The first of nine chapters begins with a short introduction to spiders and brief generalized outlines of the life histories of some of the more common families. Lastly, there are discussions of spiders as model terrestrial predators and the importance of field experimentation, which is the primary focus of this book.
Useful synopses occur at the end of each chapter.
The author points out that most of the ecological work on spiders has been done on those species which build webs because these species are more easily manipulated than wandering spiders. Unfortunately, the level of knowledge on wandering spiders is illustrated on p. 10, where the author states that salticids cannot capture prey in the dark. This primarily diurnal, visually-oriented family can capture prey in the dark by tactile means. Despite this and a few other minor exceptions, the book is remarkably free of errors. The quality of the production is high.