108 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



[Vol. XXXIV. 



are covered with hairs and scales, often brightly 

 colored and iridescent, especially in the males. The 

 common Salticus scenicus of both Europe and 

 America lives on the outside of houses and is cov- 

 ered with a mixture of white, gray and yellow 

 scales which give it the color of unpamted wood. 

 It hunts and eats gnats and small insects of any 

 kind. On the ground live several common Lyco- 

 sidae, long-legged running spiders; m the woods, 

 I^\)cosa praiensis and Lycosa frondicola, and in 

 the open fields, several species of Pardosa. In 

 midsummer the L^cosidae carry around their young 

 enclosed in round cocoons attached behmd to the 

 spinnerets. 



In the southern part of Canada come in a few 

 spiders related to the more southern Carolinian 

 fauna. The most conspicuous of these are the two 

 species of Argiope, large spiders brightly marked 

 with black, yellow, and silvery white. They make 

 large, round webs in tall grass and low bushes, 

 especially in low ground near brooks and ditches. 

 Unlike the large Epeira, they hang in their webs 

 through the day and so are more generally known. 

 Argiope auraniia has been found at Toronto and 

 Argiope trifasciata at Ottawa and Montreal. The 

 large burrowing L^cosa which are so abundant in 

 southern Manitoba belong to species that range 

 southward as far as Texas. The habits of these 

 burrowing spiders have been described by Mr. 

 Criddle in the Ottav^a Naturalist of April, 1918. 



In the western part of Canada, a Pacific coast 

 fauna extends north from California as far as 

 Alaska, some of its species as far as the Klondike 

 valley and eastward beyond the Rocky Mountains. 

 Brachyhothrium pacificum, the only Canadian rep- 

 resentative of the tropical family Aricularidae oc- 

 curs on Vancouver Island. Epeira gemma and 

 Linyphia litigiosa, common in California, come 

 north into British Columbia and eastward as far 



as Medicine Hat. In British Columbia, Agalena 

 pacific partly replaces the eastern Agalena naevla 

 and Amaurobius picius replaces Amaurob'us ben- 

 neti. As yet, however, little is known about the 

 spiders of western Canada and the Rocky Moun- 

 tains. 



North of the coniferous forest of Canada is a 

 country little explored. Its spiders are known only 

 from explorations of Labrador and the Arctic 

 coast. Some of the most abundant species are the 

 same which live in bogs and open spaces through 

 the forest area and even south of it. The most 

 widely distributed of these is Pardosa glacialis, 

 which is abundant as far north as Greenland and 

 Banks Land, and south into the United States. 

 Hardly less diffused is Pardosa greenlandica, which 

 extends along the coast as far south as Maine, is 

 found at various points across Canada, and is 

 abundant on all the mountains east and west above 

 the trees. Lycosa albohastata, a small species 

 brightly marked with black, white and orange, is 

 found running on the scd just above the trees in 

 the mountains of New Hampshire, in the Rocky 

 Mountains, on the coast of Maine and Labrador, 

 and along the Hudson Bay railway, so that it 

 probably extends entirely across Canada near the 

 northern limit of trees. Another arctic species is 

 the variable and handsomely marked Lycosa pic- 

 tilis that lives on the top of Mount Washington, on 

 the coast of Labrador and Greenland and Alaska, 

 and is probably identical with species described 

 from arctic land farther north. Erigone psychro- 

 phila and other small species living among low 

 plants near the ground are found at various points 

 along the arctic coast from 60^ to 80° north. As 

 far as spiders are concerned, no faunal group cor- 

 responding to the "Hudsonian" of bird students 

 has been noticed, but may be defined by a more 

 thorough study of the northern border of the coni- 

 ferous forest. 



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