The purpose of this study was to identify spiders associated with foliage of sugar maple, Acer saccharum Marsh. and white ash, Fraxinus americana L., and to investigate their distribution and relative abundance within the crowns of these two northern hardwoods. Spiders were collected during June through August 1995 from the lower and mid-crowns of ten dominant/codominant sugar maples, five white ash and understory sapling and herbaceous foliage ≤2 m from the ground in a northern hardwood stand in Cortland County New York. These samples were compared for differences in species composition and density (number/25 leaf-clusters; number/100 g dry leaf weight). The spider fauna obtained from this intensive sample was compared to that of an extensive, 20-year survey from the mid-crown of sugar maple in 15 northern hardwood stands in northern New York (St. Lawrence and Lewis Counties). The intensive overstory collection (1995) from maple provided 694 specimens (7 families, 11 genera, 13 species). The dominant families were Philodromidae (43%) and Theridiidae (26%). The most abundant species were Philodromus rufus Walckenaer 1826 and Enoplognatha ovata (Clerck 1757). Sugar maple averaged 2.6 ± 0.6 spiders/25 leaf-clusters and 14.2 ± 0.6/100 g of foliage. Density of dominant taxa and total numbers did not differ significantly (α = 0.05) between crown positions. Significantly fewer hunters/100 g leaf weight occurred on the distal half of mid-crown branches compared to the basal half. Hunters were the dominant foraging guild in terms of both numbers (65%) and number/100 g leaf weight (56%). One hundred twenty four specimens were obtained from white ash (7 families, 9 genera, 9 species). Density on ash averaged 2.6 ± 1.3/100 g leaf weight and P. rufus and Araniella displicata (Hentz 1847) were the most abundant species. Significantly fewer spiders occurred on white ash compared to sugar maple (14.2 ± 0.6/100 g of foliage. The extensive sample provided 712 specimens consisting of 12 families, 27 genera and 40 species. The most abundant species recovered was Pelegrina proterva (Walckenaer 1837). The web spinner, E. ovata was the most common species recovered from understory foliage (96% of 763 specimens).