106 The Ottawa Naturalist. [December 



hasty visits to its home, however, it does not appear to differ very 

 markedly in habits from the latter. A full day spent in the Spruce 

 Woods Reserve on October 13, where the species is numerous, dis- 

 covered most of the burrows closed but here and there spiders would be 

 found busily at work. The holes were always in pure sand, though 

 occasionally they might be located in places where the grass was sparse 

 or even near ground cedar, Jimiperus horizontalis. It often happens, 

 with this species, that the coverings of the holes are broken away by 

 the drifting sand, thus giving them the appearance of having never 

 been closed. In several instances of this sort the spiders had aban- 

 doned their burrows, while on other occasions a stoppage of the hole 

 lower down had protected them from the falling sand. Abandoned 

 holes of both this spider and of L. missouriensis are quite frequently 

 met with, doubtless due to the death of their owners. There is reason 

 to suspect that very late burrowing individuals are those which have 

 been obliged to abandon a previously prepared home. The fact that 

 L. wrightii does not construct a turret around its hole is doubtless due 

 to the fact that a turret would catch the wind in such an exposed 

 situation and so be blown away. The holes, unlike those of L. 

 missouriensis, are closed entirely with a mixture of sand and web, no 

 vegetation being used in the process. 22 adult burrows were measured, 

 the average depth of which was 4 feet 7 inches, the deepest being 

 5 feet 7 inches, and the shallowest 4 feet 1 inch. These holes were all 

 closed and had been so for some time. 



The burrows of L. wrightii being in pure sand are more thorough- 

 ly lined with web than are those of L. missouriensis. This, of course, 

 serves a double purpose, namely, to enable the spiders to climb up 

 readily and to prevent the loose sand from dislodging. During the 

 summer, holes have to be continually cleaned out owing to the drifting 

 condition of the sand and in late autumn a majority of the closed holes 

 are very soon hidden through the same agency. The opening of bur- 

 rows in spring time is largely governed by meteorological conditions, 

 and is doubtless induced by a thawing out of the ground around the 

 hibernating spiders. Thus, during an early spring, the holes are 

 opened by the end of April, while in other years they have remained 

 closed until the middle of May. 



Both these large spiders are much attacked by parasitic and 

 predacious wasps which they greatly fear. The males are particularly 

 subjected to these attacks while wandering in search of females during 

 September, and fall ready victims to the determined onslaught of their 

 dreaded foes. It is true that the spider will fight in desperation when 

 overtaken but the result is, apparently, always the same. Some species 

 of Pompilus boldly enter the spider's burrows and attack the occu- 

 pants. On July 7, 1916, the writer observed an example of Pompilus 

 scelestus Cr. enter a burrow of L. wrightii and shortly afterwards 



