THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 145 



NOTES ON GENERIC CHARACTERS IN THE LYCOSID/E. 



^ BY RALPH V. CHAMBERLIN, ITHACA, N. Y. 



Scarcely any two men who have studied the Lycosidce have 

 interpreted or defined the genera of the family wholly in the same way. 

 The purely relative nature of the characters most frequently used in 

 separating the species into genera leaves room for much diversity in 

 opinion and usage ; and, in consequence, it is not surprising to find that 

 genera used without question by one arachnologist are by others 

 unhesitatingly relegated to synonymy. 



Various genera that have been proposed in this family are clearly 

 artificial, havmg been erected on single characters without reference to the 

 existence or non-existence of correlated differences. That is, the species in 

 such cases are grouped with a view^ to convenience rather than with the 

 intent to express generic relationship. There can be little doubt,^however, 

 that some of the more commonly accepted genera represent in the main 

 natural associations of species, the difficulty here being encountered in 

 the choice of characters for definition and diagnosis. 



It is true that Pardosa, for example, may promptly be recognized by 

 an experienced student of the group from the shape of the face and the 

 relations of the eyes of the first and second rows, but no statement of 

 their features has been given that does not become uncertain somewhere, 

 and restriction to them in study has led authors to the incorrect reference 

 of many species. The difference between Lycosa and Pardosa in the 

 armature of the furrows of the chelicerae, pointed out by Mr. Simon, will 

 also often not hold good. It is sometimes stated that in Pardosa and its 

 relatives the metatarsus is longer than the combined length of the tibia and 

 patella of the same leg, whereas in Lycosa, etc., the reverse is true, but 

 exceptions to this are not rare on either side ; and so it is likewise with 

 other characters which might be selected singly. 



The labium in its form and proportions affords characters of 

 considerable significance. It has been stated that the labium of Pardosa 

 and its close allies is nearly always wider than long, and that it is never 

 longer than wide, whereas in Lycosa it is always longer than wide. For 

 the use of this distinction very careful measurement is essential. The 

 value of the character I find to be increased and its use made safer by 

 considermg in connection with it the shape and relative length of the 

 articulating notch or excavation at the base of the labium. In Pardosa 

 the notch is short, averaging one-fourth, or less, the total length of 



