POISON-FANG AND STILETTO 153 



Many of them are nocturnal in their habits, 

 lurking under stones, fallen leaves, and crevices 

 in the rocks and ground until the approach of 

 dusk, when, like highway robbers, they issue 

 forth to hunt down their victims. There is one 

 British species which has the suggestive name 

 of Lycosa piratica, and which certainly lives up 

 to its name. It frequents marshy situations, and 

 is so light that it can run on the surface of the 

 pools without breaking through the surface film, 

 and, taking full advantage of this peculiarity, the 

 Spider adventures forth on the surface of the 

 waters of the marsh like a bold pirate, seizing 

 and sucking the blood of any luckless insect that 

 may come within its reach. One has only to 

 watch the way in which these Spiders run down 

 their prey and the ferocity with which they 

 seize upon their unhappy victims, to realize how 

 well deserved is their name of Wolf Spiders. 

 Although so fierce in their hunting instincts, the 

 female Wolf Spiders are remarkably tender 

 mothers, displaying the most affectionate care 

 for their offspring. The female Dolomedes is 

 a good example of this maternal solicitude. She 

 places her two hundred or more eggs in a rather 

 rough-looking, globular-shaped cocoon which 

 she carries about with her in her wanderings, 

 holding it against the under surface of her body 

 by means of her fakes and palpi, and to make 

 it quite secure attaching it to her spinnerets by 

 a few strong threads. When her young are 

 about to emerge from the eggs, she spins a 

 dome-shaped web or nest in the low-growing 

 herbage, and under the shelter thus formed for 



