The genus Lycosa includes spiders that differ greatly in the proportions
of different parts of their bodies. In general, they are large and stout
and their legs short compared to those of Pardosa and Dolomedes, the
front legs being not much longer than the body. In the short and stout
species, like _pratensis_ (fig. 170), the eyes cover only a small part
of the head, while in the longer legged and more slender species, like
_communis_ (fig. 181), they are larger and spread farther apart. The
head is highest behind and rounded downward in front, but less so in
those species with large eyes. The spines of the legs are comparatively
small and on the two front pairs concealed by the surrounding hairs. The
fine flattened hairs on the front feet sometimes form a thick brush on
the under side, extending up from the claws as far as the tibia. The
colors are all shades of brown and gray.
[Illustration: FIGS. 166, 167. Lycosa nidicola.--166, female enlarged
twice. 167, under side of abdomen.]
$Lycosa nidicola.$--When full grown three-quarters of an inch long; the
legs short, the longest an inch in length. The color is dull yellow or
greenish brown. On the cephalothorax there is a narrow yellow stripe in
the middle and one on each side (fig. 166), and on the front of the
abdomen the usual pointed stripe, dark at the edges and bordered by
lighter bands. On the hinder half of the abdomen are indistinct cross
marks. The legs are without markings, and the spines short and hardly
visible. The under side of the abdomen (fig. 167) is light in the middle
and darker at the sides and marked with small brown spots. The males and
young are lighter and more plainly marked than the adult females. This
spider lives under stones and other shelters in the woods in a shallow
nest, lined with silk, where the female may be found with her cocoon of
eggs early in the summer.
[Illustration: FIGS. 168, 169, 170. Lycosa pratensis.--168, female
enlarged three times. 169, side of cephalothorax. 170, front of head and
mandibles.]
$Lycosa pratensis.$--A small species, four-fifths to half an inch long,
yellowish brown, with indistinct light and dark markings. The
cephalothorax has a middle light band as wide as the eyes, narrowed a
little in front of the dorsal groove and broken in the middle by two
brown spots (fig. 168). The sides of the cephalothorax near the edge
are faintly lighter than the rest. The abdomen has a pointed middle
stripe, dark at the edges, extending back half its length, and behind
this four or five dark cross stripes. The legs are darker toward the
ends; the femora are marked with two broken dark bands, and the patella
and tibia of the third and fourth legs have faint dark rings. The spines
are small and, on the two front pairs of legs, hardly visible among the
other hairs. The under side is light colored, with the ends of the legs
darker. The epigynum is short and wide. The males differ little from the
females. This does not seem to be a very active spider and is commonly
found under stones.
[Illustration: FIG. 171. Lycosa polita, enlarged three times.]
$Lycosa polita.$--This is a short-legged species resembling in size and
color _Lycosa pratensis_. The hairs are very short and often entirely
absent from the cephalothorax, which is smooth and shining. The eyes are
very close together, especially the two of the middle row, which is much
shorter than the front row (fig. 171). The cephalothorax and legs are
often light brown without any markings, but in some individuals there
are irregular dark marks along the sides of the thorax and broken rings
on the legs. The abdomen is gray, light in the middle, with dark
transverse marks behind and closely placed dark spots at the sides, much
as in _Tegenaria medicinalis_ and Amaurobius. The abdomen is light
underneath, with a darker middle line and irregular oblique rows of
spots at the sides.
[Illustration: FIG. 172. Mouth of hole of Lycosa nidifex in sand, and
footprints of the spider where it ran out from the hole and back again.
One-third the real size.]
$Lycosa nidifex.$--This spider lives in sandy regions,--the females in
holes ten or twelve inches deep, the adult males on the surface of the
ground. The males (fig. 174) are half or five-eighths of an inch long
and spread two inches. They are colored like the sand,--a little redder
sometimes in the middle spots and on the femora, and gray at the sides.
There is a spot in the middle of the abdomen edged with black and a
black band on each side of the head divided in front, the branches
extending to the lateral eyes of both rows. The ends of the palpi and
the spinnerets are black. The mandibles are black, except in the middle,
where they are covered with bright yellow hairs. On the under side (fig.
175) the two front pairs of legs, sternum, and mouth parts are black,
the hinder legs and abdomen light sand color, like the back. The female
(fig. 173) is larger,--three-quarters of an inch or more in length. The
color is more gray or slate color, darker in front and lighter behind,
as in the male. The cephalothorax has a light gray band in the middle,
and the abdomen a middle dark band broken at the sides by three or four
pairs of light spots. The front two pairs of legs are thicker than the
others and more closely covered with hair in both sexes.
[Illustration: FIG. 173. Lycosa nidifex.--Female enlarged twice.]
[Illustration: FIGS. 174, 175. Lycosa nidifex.--174, back of male. 175,
under side of male. Both enlarged twice.]
In August the males wander about on the sand and are easily caught.
Though their color is much like the sand, the marks of the back and legs
make them more easily seen than _L. cinerea_ (fig. 177) and other sand
spiders. The females live in holes three-quarters of an inch wide and
ten inches or more deep. The sand is held together by silk, which is
very thin below but thicker toward the opening. Sometimes bits of sticks
and straw are fastened around the hole, but as often it is entirely
clean and not concealed in any way. The females keep near their holes
and drop into them at the least fright. As one walks across the
neighborhood no spiders are to be seen, only open holes. After a short
time they come to the surface, at first slowly, but sometimes, as they
see the place clear, with a sudden jump, and stand over the hole ready
to drop back into it. The color of the females is more gray or slate
color than that of the males. The markings of the abdomen are larger and
more distinct, but the black on the thorax and front legs is less marked
than in the males.
[Illustration: FIG. 176. Lycosa carolinensis.--Under side of female to
show the black markings.]
$Lycosa carolinensis.$--This is one of the largest spiders living in the
northern states, and it resembles in size and color the famous Tarantula
of southern Europe (fig. 175). The female is sometimes over an inch in
length, with the fourth legs an inch and a half long, so that it spreads
over three inches. The males have the legs as long but more slender, and
the body is smaller, measuring three-quarters of an inch. The color is
gray mixed with brown, like the fur of a mouse, the males lighter than
the females.
On the under side the whole body is black, including the first and
second joints of the legs and the maxillæ. The legs are light gray, with
dark bands at the ends of the joints. The mandibles are brown, with
orange-yellow hairs on the front. There is sometimes a little yellow on
the ends of the first and second legs and palpi of the male.
The female makes a hole, but not a deep one, and hides in it with her
eggs, but is often found running about on the ground.
[Illustration: FIGS. 177, 178. Lycosa cinerea.--177, female enlarged
four times. 178, maxillæ.]
$Lycosa cinerea.$--A common spider on beaches and sandy fields all over
this country and in Europe (fig. 177) The general color is dirty white
covered with small black and gray marks, so that, when it lies flat on
the sand, it can hardly be distinguished from it. The body is half an
inch long, and the fourth legs nearly an inch. The under side is white
or gray, and the whole body covered with white and gray hairs. The legs
are marked with indistinct dark rings, two or three to each joint. On
the cephalothorax the spots radiate irregularly from the dorsal groove;
the space between the eyes is dark, and the mandibles are dark brown.
The markings of the abdomen are broken up into small spots, so that
there is little of the usual figures. The male palpi are long and
slender and the ends very small.
[Illustration: FIGS. 179, 180. Lycosa kochii.--179, female enlarged
twice. 180, epigynum.]
$Lycosa kochii.$--This is a common species in the woods, and is colored
brown and gray, like dead leaves (fig. 179). It is half an inch long
when full grown, and the fourth legs three-quarters of an inch. The
upper eyes are larger than in _pratensis_ and _nidicola_, and cover half
the width of the head, as in _communis_. The cephalothorax is light gray
in the middle and dark at the sides and around the front of the head.
The legs are gray, lighter toward the body and darker toward the ends,
marked with indistinct rings, two or three to each joint. The abdomen is
gray, with broken darker gray markings forming indistinctly a row of
transverse marks in the middle. The sides are darkest toward the front
end, where there are two black spots. The under side is lighter than the
back. The epigynum (fig. 180) differs from that of the related species,
having the middle lobe narrow in front and wide and triangular at the
end.
[Illustration: FIGS. 181, 182. Lycosa communis.--181, female enlarged
three times. 182, front of head showing eyes.]
$Lycosa communis.$--This is a common spider in pastures, running in
grass or hiding under stones. It varies in color from light gray to
almost black, but the markings are almost always the same and distinct.
On the thorax there is a middle stripe extending forward to the eyes,
and a narrower one between the eyes to the front of the head (fig. 181).
At the sides are light stripes nearly as wide as the middle one
extending under the eyes to the front of the head. On the abdomen the
front pointed stripe is large. The light stripes at the side of it are
wide and distinct, uniting on the hinder half of the abdomen into a
middle stripe, broken sometimes into a row of four or five spots. In
dark individuals this light marking is yellow and more strongly defined
than in lighter ones. On the thorax, especially in light
colored-spiders, there are usually two or three light marks radiating
from the dorsal groove. The legs, except the ends of the first and
second, are marked with rings at the ends and middle of the joints,
indistinct in light spiders and brighter in dark ones.
The length is two-fifths to half an inch. The legs are long, the fourth
pair three-quarters of an inch in length. The second row of eyes is a
little wider than the first, and the second eyes are large and their
diameter apart (fig. 182). On the under side of the abdomen are two dark
stripes meeting at the spinnerets so as to form a horseshoe-shaped
figure, but in some very dark individuals the whole under side of the
abdomen behind the epigynum is dark colored. There is little difference
between the sexes. The females carry eggs in June and July.
[Illustration: FIG. 183. Lycosa scutulata.--Female enlarged twice.]
$Lycosa scutulata.$--This is a large and well-marked species, over half
an inch in length and with hind legs over an inch long (fig. 183). The
legs are yellowish gray without markings. The cephalothorax is dark
gray, with a light middle stripe and one on each side extending under
the eyes to the front of the head. There is also a narrow light line on
the edge of the thorax at the sides. In the middle of the abdomen is a
dark stripe, with five or six pairs of light spots, those of the front
pair being only partly inclosed by the stripe. At the sides of the
middle stripe are narrower light bands, and beyond these fine light and
dark oblique lines. On the under side the whole body is light gray.
In the males the front legs are a little longer and much darker colored
than the others. The male palpi are slender, and the tarsi small for so
large a spider. The second row of eyes is a little wider than the front
row.
[Illustration: FIGS. 184, 185. Lycosa ocreata.--184, female enlarged
eight times. 185, cephalothorax and front legs of male.]
$Lycosa ocreata.$--The female may easily be mistaken for young _L.
kochii_ (fig. 179) or _communis_ (fig. 181), but the male is conspicuous
on account of the dark head and front legs and especially the thick
covering of black hairs on the tibiæ of the first pair. The
cephalothorax has a distinct light middle stripe, narrower and
straighter in the male (figs. 184, 185). The middle of the abdomen is
yellow, with the pointed stripe only a little darker and marked with
black spots around the edges. At the sides the abdomen is brown, broken
in spots, and in the middle of the hinder half are three or four cross
marks. The legs are yellowish and ringed with gray in the females. In
the males the femora and the sides of the thorax are much darker brown,
and the tibiæ of the front pair dark and thickly covered with hairs. The
male palpi have the patella and tibia thickened and about as wide as
long. The front legs are plainly thicker than the second in both sexes.
The second row of eyes is wider than the first. The length of either sex
is a little over quarter of an inch. The legs are slender and thinly
covered with long fine hairs. The longest leg is about half an inch.