ix] WOLF-SPIDERS 59 



name of wolf-spiders, but though they sometimes 

 occur in incredible numbers so that it seems im- 

 possible to avoid treading upon them, they do not 

 hunt in packs ; each one is entirely concerned with 

 his own individual quarry. They are moderate-sized 

 or large spiders commonly about half an inch long 

 in this country though there are exotic species which 

 attain an inch and a quarter and in build they are 

 very unlike the garden-spider, being elongate, and 

 with the abdomen nothing like so globular. 



Their habits vary considerably. One genus, 

 appropriately named Pirata, is semi-aquatic, living 

 at the margins of rivers and ponds, and able to run 

 on the surface of the water, but most of the Lycosidae 

 prefer dry land the dryer the better. Heaths, 

 sandhills, bare and stony stretches of soil, even 

 deserts, are fertile in examples of this group. Most 

 of the smaller species love the sunlight, and it is 

 often noticeable on a bright day, when the ground 

 seems to be alive with wolf-spiders, that a chance 

 cloud obscuring the sun will cause them to disappear 

 as if by magic. 



Some of the small Lycosids seem to be absolute 

 wanderers, having no home at all, but spending the 

 night under a stone or any casual shelter, while 

 others dig a more or less temporary hole in the 

 ground into which they carry their captured prey, 

 and in which they take refuge on the appearance of 



