The Lycosidæ are among the commonest spiders, or, at any rate, those
most often seen. Most of them live near the ground and move actively
about without attempting to conceal themselves. Their colors are black
and white or the colors of the ground, stones, and dead leaves,
sometimes nearly uniform all over the body, in other kinds arranged in a
distinct pattern, with strong contrasts between the light and dark
parts. In some species the markings are brighter and more characteristic
on the under side than on the back. The legs are long, the fourth pair
longest. The spines on the legs are long and often darker colored than
the skin, and when the spider is active they stand out from the legs and
make them appear larger. The first and second legs are more covered with
fine short hairs and have the spines shorter and less easily seen than
the third and fourth. The feet have three claws, the under one small and
covered by the surrounding hairs. The eyes have a peculiar arrangement,
the front row being small and nearly straight, the middle pair of the
upper row just above them and much larger, while the lateral eyes of
this row are carried back and upward on the sides of the head so that
the eyes are really in three rows of four, two, and two (fig. 170). In
those species with low heads, like Dolomedes, the upper row of eyes is
less curved and smaller, and the whole arrangement resembles that in
Tibellus and others of the Thomisidæ. The body is usually long and the
head high, the abdomen about as long and as wide as the cephalothorax
and as thick as it is wide.
Our largest spiders belong to this family. The females carry their eggs
in round cocoons attached to their spinnerets, and the young for a
short time after coming out are carried about on the back of the mother.
Dolomedes and Ocyale carry their cocoons in the mandibles and spin a
loose web in bushes, where the young live for a time after leaving the
cocoon. The young of most species pass the winter half grown and mature
the next summer. Most of the little spiders seen spinning their threads
on the tops of plants and fences in the Indian summer are young
Lycosidæ.
Most of these spiders belong to two genera, Lycosa and Pardosa, the
first including the larger species, with the eyes covering only a small
part of the front of the head and the front row about the same length as
the second; the other, Pardosa, consisting of comparatively small
species, with the four upper eyes very large and covering the whole top
of the head and the front row much shorter than the second.