THE HUNTING SPIDERS 201 



spiders. They tie the soil together with silk into little pellets, which 

 they carry in their chelicerae and drop a short distance from the bur- 

 row entrance. The walls of the vertical tunnel are lined with silk, a 

 very important material in the construction of the domicile; and the 

 spider's movements are facilitated by a ladder of webbing that allows 

 it to climb quickly and surely to the surface. The considerable 

 reliance of these wolf spiders on silk is further noted in the various 

 refinements associated with the burrow opening; the turret, the win- 

 ter and aestivating closures, and the trap door all are dependent 

 on it. 



The typical burrow (Plates 25 and 26; Plate XXV) conforms 

 throughout most of its length to the size of its occupant, but an en- 

 largement, usually in the middle portion, allows the spider to turn 

 around and serves in the exact sense of the word as a living room. 

 Because of cramped quarters, mating ordinarily takes place on the 

 surface, after the males have enticed the females to come outside. 

 As for their maternal habits, the burrowing wolves transport their 

 egg sacs and young around with them, even while moving in and 

 out of the narrow tunnel. They have learned to carry the sacs to 

 the entrance, where they can be exposed to the rays of the sun; a 

 mother will sit just inside the opening, and turn the bag over and 

 over with her legs and palpi to warm all its surfaces. (This habit 

 appears to be a necessity for nocturnal species, and for those that 

 scarcely move outside the tunnel entrance during their day hunting.) 

 Whereas the vagrant wolves are usually rid of their young a week 

 or so after they have clustered on the mother's back, the spiderlings 

 of the burrowers may remain with their parent for long periods, 

 sometimes over winter in the tunnels. 



Collectors seeking specimens will find that the burrowing lyco- 

 sids may occasionally be duped by using a decoy an insect tied to 

 a string, a wad of beeswax, or a stem to which the enraged spider 

 will cling long enough to be pulled out of its burrow. When the 

 spider sits near or has been coaxed to the entrance by some meth- 

 od, a quick jab with a knife blade or heavy forceps will close the 

 lower part of the tube and make capture easy. Digging the bur- 

 rower out may prove a laborious undertaking if the tunnel is tor- 

 tuous or established in rocky soil. Those that live in sand are easily 

 taken with shovel or trowel, but it is a wise precaution to put a 

 stem into the burrow, or fill it with dry sand, and then follow its 

 course down. The spider will usually retreat to the narrow bottom 



