286 KANSAS UNIVERSITY SCIENCE BULLETIN. 



tion has at times been partially based on the manner of digging 

 and the kind of hole dug, but it does not seem worthy of reli- 

 ance. This species usually erects around the top of the hole a 

 frail wall of web and grass. 



Now as to the means for bringing the Lycosidse. from their 

 holes something may be said. This is an easy matter if a little 

 water be carried, and almost an impossibility without it. The 

 water should be poured in slowly and allowed to run down the 

 side of the hole. By this means the bottom begins to fill; as 

 the water rises the spider climbs up to avoid getting wet, and 

 soon appears at the top. If the water is suddenly poured in and 

 strikes the inmate forcibly she becomes frightened and remains 

 in the tube. Drowning her out is quite impossible, for it is 

 well known how spiders can be submerged in water for days 

 and still survive. 



The males are easily distinguished from the females, not only 

 because, as a rule, they have smaller bodies than the females of 

 their species, and are usually more gaily colored, but because 

 tlie male spider possesses attached to its head a pair of pedipalpi 

 enlarged into bulbs at the ends. The female possesses pedipalpi, 

 but no enlargement exists. 



The greatest difficulty was experienced in obtaining the eggs 

 in the maturation stages. This is because maturation takes 

 place upon oviposition, and it is almost impossible to find 

 them at just this time. For this reason, toward the close 

 of March, I placed a large Lycosid in a glass jar half filled 

 with well-packed earth. One day, so long after I had begun 

 the experiment that I had decided it a failure, the animal 

 began to dig near the center of the jar. When the hole was a 

 half-inch deep she stopped removing the dirt and began to even 

 the hole until it was very smooth with a gently curving bot- 

 tom. Now she took a new position, with her feet on the edge 

 of the opening and her body directly over it. From this posi- 

 tion she lowered the abdomen until the spinnerets touched the 

 center of the smooth surface beneath her and held them there 

 for a short time. When she lifted the abdomen a small, shining 

 patch of white was deposited on the ground and numerous sil- 

 very threads connected it with the spinnerets. This was the 

 beginning of the cocoon. 



From this time on she worked industriously. With a move- 



