

68 THE COMMON SPIDERS 



and the young for a short time after coming out are carried 

 about on the back of the mother. Dolomedes and Ocyale 

 carry their cocoons in the mandibles and spin a loose web in 

 bushes, where the young live for a time after leaving the cocoon. 

 The young of most species pass the winter half grown and 

 mature the next summer. Most of the little spiders seen 

 spinning their threads on the tops of plants and fences in the 

 Indian summer are young Lycosidae. 



Most of these spiders belong to two genera, Lycosa and 

 Pardosa, the first including the larger species, with the eyes 

 covering only a small part of the front of the head and the 

 front row about the same length as the second ; the other, 

 Pardosa, consisting of comparatively small species, with the 

 four upper eyes very large and covering the whole top of the 

 head and the front row much shorter than the second. 



THE GENUS LYCOSA 



The genus Lycosa includes spiders that differ greatly in the 

 proportions of different parts of their bodies. In general, they 

 are large and stout and their legs short compared to those of 

 Pardosa and Dolomedes, the front legs being not much longer 

 than the body. In the short and stout species, like pratensis 

 (fig. 170), the eyes cover only a small part of the head, while in 

 the longer legged and more slender species, like communis 

 (fig. 181), they are larger and spread farther apart. The head 

 is highest behind and rounded downward in front, but less so 

 in those species with large eyes. The spines of the legs are 

 comparatively small and on the two front pairs concealed by 

 the surrounding hairs. The fine flattened hairs on the front 

 feet sometimes form a thick brush on the under side, extending 

 up from the claws as far as the tibia. The colors are all 

 shades of brown and gray. 



