70 THE COMMON SPIDERS 



the edge are faintly lighter than the rest. The abdomen has 

 a pointed middle stripe, dark at the edges, extending back half 

 its length, and behind this four or five dark cross stripes. The 

 legs are darker toward the ends ; the femora are marked with 

 two broken dark bands, and the patella and tibia of the third 

 and fourth legs have faint dark rings. The spines are small 

 and, on the two front pairs of legs, hardly visible among the 

 other hairs. The under side is light colored, with 

 the ends of the legs darker. The epigynum is 

 short and wide. The males differ little from the 

 females. This does not seem to be a 

 very active spider and is commonly found 

 under stones. 



Lycosa polita. — This is a short-legged 

 species resembling in size and color 

 Lycosa pratensis. The hairs are very 

 /fY *?/\ short and often entirely absent from the 

 ^I'-^-*,.! t^^'l cephalothorax, which is smooth and shin- 

 ^*|-'ili'C« i'^g- The eyes are very close together, 

 especially the two of the middle row, 

 which is much shorter than the front 

 f Fig. 171. Ly- TOW (fig. i/i). The ccphalothorax and 

 H ^^^^, P°''^^' legs are often light brown without any 

 U three times, markings, but in some individuals there 

 are irregular dark marks along the sides 

 of the thorax and broken rings on the legs. The abdomen is 

 gray, light in the middle, with dark transverse marks behind 

 and closely placed dark spots at the sides, much as in Tegenaria 

 medicinalis and Amaurobius. The abdomen is light under- 

 neath, with a darker middle line and irregular oblique rows 

 of spots at the sides. 



Lycosa nidifex. — This spider lives in sandy regions, — the 

 females in holes ten or twelve inches deep, the adult males 



