Supplement to the New England Spiders. 205 



the bod)' raised, alternately reaching forward the front legs and 

 jerking them quickly back until almost near enough to touch the 

 female. She then came toward him and struck at him weakly 

 with her front legs, but he turned them aside, jumped on her back 

 and tried to place his palpus under her. She then attacked him 

 in earnest and drove him away, afterward going down in her burrow 

 and remaining there, and the male soon wandered away. 



Young an eighth of an inch in length are found in small burrows 

 of their own from June to August, and in holes with adult females 

 as late as Aug. 10. 



Lycosa nidifex, Marx. American Naturalist, 1881. (Plate VII, 

 figures 3 to 3e.) 



In N. E. Lycosidae I have confounded this species with L. pikei, 

 under the name of nidifex. 



This inland species differs distinctly from Pikei and approaches 

 L. missouriensis Banks of the South and West. The epigynum and 

 palpal organs of these three species are so much alike that they 

 cannot be used to distinguish them. In nidifex the black color of 

 the under side of the first leg does not extend inward beyond the 

 patella, and the coxae are all light-colored, while in Pikei the whole 

 of the first leg, including the coxa, is black, and in some individuals 

 the whole of the second leg. In nidifex the whole upper surface 

 of the body is a nearly uniform gray color with indistinct stripes 

 on the abdomen, while in Pikei the color of both upper and under 

 sides is darkest at the head, and gradually lighter backward with 

 a distinct pattern on the abdomen. In nidifex the pads on the tibia 

 and metatarsus are composed of shorter hairs, so that these legs 

 look but two thirds as thick as they do in Pikei. 



L. nidifex usually makes a turret at the opening of its burrow, 

 sometimes only a slight ring, but often a tube of sticks or grass 

 rising more than its diameter above the surface of the ground. 

 Like Pikei the spider sits at the mouth of its burrow with the feet 

 turned under and the head high enough to see the surrounding 

 country. The burrows are often not more than eight or ten inches 

 deep, sometimes curved to avoid stones. The turrets are most 

 conspicuous in October and November, after the surrounding grass 

 has withered. The burrows remain open all winter, the immature 

 spiders lying partly torpid at the bottom. Freshly matured males 

 and females are found in May. 



