420 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1890. 



PENNSYLVANIA AND NEW JERSEY SPIDERS OF THE FAMILY LYCO- 



SIDAE. 



BY WITMER STONE. 



The Lvcosidae comprise the largest spiders of the northern 

 United States. They are all ground species, and are found running 

 among grass and dead leaves or hiding beneath stones and logs. 

 Some of the species dig tube-like holes in the ground. These 

 spiders spin no regular web, though Dolomedes and Oeyale make a 

 rough web on weeds or bushes for their young. The eggs are 

 encased in a tough silken bag, which is carried about by the female. 

 When they have hatched, the bag splits open around the middle, 

 apparently cut by the jaws of the female, and the young swarm out 

 and cling to her body. In this way they are carried about for a 

 time until able to shift for themselves. In Pennsylvania the eggs 

 of most of the species are deposited about the middle of August. 



The male spiders are about the same size as the females, and ia 

 their markings differ but little from them, being usually somewhat 

 brighter. 



The species of Lycosidfs are usually marked with various shades 

 of brown, gray, buff and black. They are thickly covered with 

 hairs, and as many of the markings are due to patches of different 

 colored hairs they often present quite a different appearance 

 when dry and when wet with alcohol. 



The Lycosidae have well-developed legs. The fourth pair are 

 the longest, the third pair shortest, and the first and second pairs 

 about equal in length. The thorax and abdomen are rather elon- 

 gated and the jaws are well developed. The eyes are in three 

 rows : four small ones in a slightly-curved row on the front of the 

 head, above the jaws, and four large ones arranged in two rows on 

 the top of the head, forming a quadrilateral (except in Dolomedes 

 and Oeyale, where the posterior row is nearly on a line with the 

 middle one.) 



Authors differ somewhat in the number of genera in which they 

 arrange the species of Lycosidae. Dr. Marx, in his recent " Cata- 

 logue of the Described Araneae of Temperate North America," 

 divides the family into eight genera, while Emerton (Lycosidre of 

 New England, Trans. Connecticut Acad., Vol. VI, p. 481) recognizes 

 but six, considering Troehosa and Tarentula as identical with 



