Superfamily Argiopoidea 



below with three pairs of spines which are but little if any longer 

 than the diameter of the segment. 



This genus includes the larger and more familiar members 

 of the family; but some of the species are of moderate size. They 

 are often found running over the ground in damp pastures or 

 lurking under stones or rubbish in fields or at the edges of woods. 

 Some of them live near water upon which they run freely and be- 

 neath which they dive when alarmed. 



Although some species of Lycosa are wandering spiders, 

 resembling the Pardosas in this respect, a large proportion of the 

 species build retreats. The retreat may be merely a shallow 

 excavation under a log or stone, lined with silk, and surrounded 

 by a wall of earth or of sticks and stones. But more often the 

 retreat is a vertical tube in the earth, which in some cases is a 

 foot or more in depth. This tube is often lined, 

 with a thin film of silk, especially when made • , \ 



in loose soil; this lining is thicker toward the open- . v \ 



ing of the tube than in the deeper portion of it. j 



Some species surround the mouth of their 

 tube with a circular wall of earth and pebbles 

 brought from the burrow or with a turret 

 made of grass and dirt fastened together with 

 silk or of bits of twigs fastened in place in Fig 7l6 



the same way. Figure 717 represents a turret labium ok lycosa 



ERRATICA 



made of grass and earth at the entrance to a 

 burrow of Lycosa carolinensis. The specimen figured was taken 

 near Agricultural College, Mississippi. It was one of many 

 found in a bank of earth that had been thrown out of a ditch. 

 These burrows were vertical or nearly so and about six inches 

 in depth; some of them were nearly one inch in diameter. The 

 burrow with the highest turret observed was that of a male; but 

 nests of females were much more abundant. 



The material used in the construction of the turret is what- 

 ever the spider finds most available in the vicinity of its burrow; 

 consequently the turrets of different individuals of the same 

 species may present a very different appearance. Even the same 

 individuals under changed conditions will vary the nature of its 

 turret. A correspondent sent me an immature male Lycosa; 

 it was one of a large number of individuals found near a railroad 

 track, and in 1 each case the spider had built its turret entirel) 



623 



