Superfamily Argiopoidea 



from New England to the Gulf of Mexico, and west to Kansas. 1 1 

 has been described several times under different specific names; 

 the synonyms are Lycosa tigrina, Lycosa vulpina, and Lycosa 

 inhonesta; the first description, under the name Lycosa aspersa, 

 was by Hentz in 1844. 



Lycosa pikei (L. pi'ke-i). — In the female the cephalothorax 

 is dark reddish brown to blackish, with a median lighter band a 

 little wider than the third eye-row in front, strongly narrowed 

 to the dorsal groove and usually expanding again back of the 

 groove. The abdomen is marked with a dark brown median 

 band, which extends to the spinnerets and which has a broad 

 indentation on each side just in front of the middle and a series 

 of narrow paired indentations behind; the sides of the dorsum 

 are grayish brown. The form of the epigynum is shown in Fig. 

 720 i. The length of the body is about three fourths inch. 



The range of this species includes the Eastern and Middle 

 States and extends to the District of Columbia and to Indiana. 

 It is a burrowing and turret building species; its burrows are often 

 from ten to twelve inches deep and one half inch in width. It was 

 first described by Mr. Scudder in 1877 under the name Lycosa 

 arenicola; but this name had already been used for an English 

 species of Lycosa. 



Lycosa nidi/ex (L. nid'i-fex). — This species has been con- 

 fused with the preceding. The two names L. nidi/ex and L. pikei 

 were both proposed by Marx ('81) in an article which treated 

 chiefly of the tube-constructing habits of these spiders and in 

 which no structural characters are given by which they could be 

 distinguished. It is now believed that the form named /.. pikei 

 by Marx is the same as that previously described by Scudder under 

 the preoccupied name L. arenicola; and Chamberlin has recently 

 published a description of what is believed to be the L. nidijex 

 of Marx (Canada Ent. Jan., '10). 



The cephalothorax is dark reddish brown without definite 

 light markings, but the median dorsal portion of the head and the 

 clypeus is paler. The abdomen is light yellowish brown, with a 

 solid black lanceolate mark at the anterior end. The epigynum 

 of the female is of the form shown in Fig. 72 1 ; it is' relatively 

 longer and narrower anteriorly than that of L. pikei, and the 

 furrows are contracted cephalad. 



Doctor Marx gave an excellent account of the habits of this 



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