72 



THE COMMON SPIDERS 



legs and abdomen light sand color, like the back. The female 

 (fig. 173) is larger, — three-quarters of an inch or more in length. 

 The color is more gray or slate color, darker in front and 

 lighter behind, as in the male. The cephalothorax has a 

 light gray band in the middle, and the abdomen 

 a middle dark band broken at the sides by three 

 or four pairs of light spots. The front two pairs 

 of legs are thicker than the others and more 

 closely covered with hair in both sexes. 



In August the males wander about on 

 the sand and are easily caught. Though 

 their color is much like the sand, the 

 marks of the back and legs make them 

 more easily seen than L. cinerea (fig. 177) 

 and other sand spiders. The females live 

 in holes three-quarters of an inch wide 

 and ten inches or more deep. The sand 

 is held together by silk, which is very 

 thin below but thicker toward the open- 

 ing. Sometimes bits of sticks and straw 

 are fastened around the hole, but as often 

 it is entirely clean and not concealed in 

 any way. The females keep near their 

 holes and drop into them at the least 

 fright. As one walks across the neigh- 

 borhood no spiders are to be seen, only 

 open holes. After a short time they 

 come to the surface, at first slowly, but sometimes, as they see 

 the place clear, with a sudden jump, and stand over the hole 

 ready to drop back into it. The color of the females is more 

 gray or slate color than that of the males. The markings of 

 the abdomen are larger and more distinct, but the black on the 

 thorax and front legs is less marked than in the males. 



Fig. 173. 

 Lycosa nidi- 

 fex. — Fe- 

 male en- 

 1 a r g e d 

 twice. 



