LYCOSA. 
29 
along the middle, and a narrow one of the same hue above each lateral margin. The falces 
are conical, and are armed with a few teeth on the inner surface; and the sternum is heart- 
shaped. These parts, with the maxillae and lip, are of a dark-brown hue, the sternum being 
sparingly covered with whitish hairs, and the lip and maxillae having a tinge of red. The 
legs have a reddish-brown hue, with dark-brown annuli ; the posterior pair is the longest, 
and the othei* three pairs are nearly of equal length. The colour of the palpi is dark, reddish- 
brown. The abdomen is oviform, hairy, rather broader at the posterior than at the anterior 
extremity, convex above, projecting over the base of the cephalo-thorax, and has three 
minute tufts of yellowish hairs in front ; the upper part is of a dark-brown colour, tinged with 
red, and in the medial line of the anterior region there is an oblong-oval band of a lighter 
hue, which extends rather more than a third of its length; this band is bordered by a black 
line, having an angular point on each side, near its termination, and between it and the 
spinners there is a row of obscure, blackish spots ; on each side of the posterior half of the 
medial line there is an indistinct series of blackish and whitish spots, disposed alternately, the 
latter being the more minute, and these series converge to the spinners; the under part is 
hoary, or of a pale, vellowish-brown hue; and the sexual organs, which are of a very dark- 
brown colour, tinged with red, have a longitudinal septum in the middle. After the female 
has exercised her parental functions the prevailing hue of the upper parts becomes dark- 
brown, almost every trace of design being effaced. 
The male is rather smaller than the female, but it resembles her in colour. The cubital 
and radial joints of the palpi are short, the latter being the larger ; the digital joint is oval, 
convex, and hairy externally, and concave within, except at the extremity, which is compact 
and armed with a small, curved claw; the concavity comprises the well-developed palpal 
organs, which have a strong, pointed spine near their centre, directed downwards and 
outwards, and a finer one passing from the inner side obliquely under it; their colour is 
reddish-brown. 
In autumn, females of this species may be seen among short grass and heath, in pastures, 
and on commons in various parts of Great Britain and Ireland, with their cocoons attached to 
their spinners. The cocoon is lenticular, and measures one seventh of an inch in diameter; 
it is constructed of compact, pale-brown, or dull, greenish-brown silk, is encircled by a narrow, 
whitish zone of a slight texture, and contains about twenty-five spherical eggs of a yellow 
colour. 
On the 12th of September, 1838, a minute black insect of the family Ichneumonidte came 
out of a cocoon belonging to a spider of this species, which had been placed in a phial. 
Differences in size, colour, habits, and haunts, serve to distinguish Lycosa obscura from 
Lycosa paludicola, though their specific identity is assumed by M. Walckenaer (‘Hist. Nat. 
des Insect. Apt./ t. iv, p. 396). 
Lycosa exigua. PI. II, fig. 12. 
Lycosa exigua, Blackw., Lond. and Edinb. Phil. Mag., third series, vol. viii, p. 490. 
— — Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series, vol. vii, p. 261. 
