3.30 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORIC. 



in Wyandotte Cave is pale pinkish, horn brown on the thorax and legs, 

 while the abdomen is dull lioney yellow.' 



Two specimens of Linypliia weyerii in my possession, collected by Dr. 

 .Joseph Leidy in Luray Cavern, Virginia, are of a light honey yellow, the 

 abdomen of one individual being darkisli brown. As this is a common 

 color for spiders of all conditions, after tliey liave been in alcohol a little 

 wliile, I am not able to say what may have been the original color of 

 these, particularly as they are not adult. 



In tlie case of Lycosa arenicola, wliose liabits were studied by mo on 

 Coffin's Beacli, near Annisquam, Massachusetts, the undue presence of sun- 

 light and heat appears to have produced precisely the same 



, _ results as the absence of sunlight in Mammoth Cave. The 



by Sun- , n , , • » • • . 



lig-ht eastern shore or the bay opposite Annisquam consists in part 



of a stretch of sand hills known as Coffin's Beach. The sand is 

 a bright white color, and is massed at places into elevations of consider- 

 able height. The fragrant Bay bush grows in clumps along the edges 

 and summits of these irregular sand hills, and this is intermingled with 

 patches of tough grass, among whicli are numerous burrows of the Turret 

 spider. These Lycosids are domiciled in the sand, and spread very gen- 

 erally over the dunes. The burrows are dug straight downward, penetrat- 

 ing the upper layer of loose sand, and striking the more compact and 

 moist strata below the surface. The spiders captured were of a light hue, 

 as compared with the same specimens found 

 in meadows, fields, and like environment in 

 the interior. Specimens almost identical with 

 these in color were found l>y Dr. Joseph 

 Leidy, and subsequently by myself, in the 

 sand at Beach Haven, New .Jersey. This 

 pale coloring appears in all other littoral 

 specimens examined. The influence of envi- 

 ronment, as manifest in these spiders, was also 

 p.«. 308. Lycosa arenicola. (A dark ggen in a grasshopper or locust which is 



specimen.) ° * "^ 



quite abundant on Coffin's Beach, and is al- 

 most as white as the sand over which it was found hopping. ^ 



It is certainly confusing to one who studies the influence of light upon 

 aranead coloration to find such contradictory facts as these, viz., that the 

 absence of light results in albinism in the spider fauna of cav- 

 Contra- ^^.^^^^ while the excessive sunlight which beats upon and is re- 

 EflFects. fl^^t*^^ by the white sea sand produces the same condition. Evi- 

 dently sometliiiig more than the direct influence of sunlight must 

 contribute to these results. 



' Invei-tt^brate Cave Fauna of Kentucky, Am. Nat., Vol. IX., page 276. 

 2 McCook : Tlie Turret Spider on Coffin's Beach, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., 

 I)age 333. 



