30 JOURNAL OF THE 



angular spot extending from the spinnerets to the anterior edge, 

 the anterior half of this brown, the posterior white; the de- 

 pressed lines arise from the sides of this spot. Legs light-col- 

 ored. Described from two females. Length of the larger 

 13 mm , abdomen 15 mm broad, 10 mm long; length of the smaller 

 ll mm , abdomen 13 mm broad, 9 mm long. 



No. XIV. 



NOTE ON THE TUBE-INHABITING SPIDER, 

 LYCOSA FATIFERA HENTZ. 



G. F. ATKINSON. 



There seems to be a general impression that the tube-building 

 1/ycosidce do not use their holes for such a permanent abiding 

 place as do the trap-door spiders. Good authorities hold that a 

 majority, and perhaps all, use the tube only as a winter resort, 

 or for a retreat in the summer during the time of moulting, 

 though the testimony on this point is by no means universal. 

 There seems good reason, however, for believing that nearly all 

 desert their tubes during the spring and summer at times, and 

 wander in search of their prey. Indeed, there are indications 

 that there are latitudinal as well as seasonal variations in the 

 habits of the family, i. e., that in northern latitudes propor- 

 tionately a greater number make no tubes than in southern lati- 

 tudes. The latitudinal variation might be called genetic, in that 

 many species of the genus in northern latitudes hide away under 

 stones, etc., making no tubes at all; while in southern latitudes 

 many other species of the same genus construct tubes, some few 

 using them habitually, many others temporarily. On the other 

 hand, seasonal variations might be called specific, in that most 

 species in any latitude which construct tubes use them only dur- 

 ing inclement seasons or during periods of weakness. One spe- 

 cies I have observed here, Lycosa fatifera Hentz, habitually uses 

 its tube at all seasons, never, or very rarely, wandering in search 

 of prey. I have many times watched them resting at the open- 



