LYCOSA. 
19 
This species is quite distinct from lycosa agretyca, with which it is frequently confounded. 
The form of its cephalo-thorax is that common to the Lycosce generally, with slight modi¬ 
fications ; it is compressed before, depressed and rounded on the sides, hairy, and has a narrow 
indentation in the medial line of the posterior region; its colour is greenish-brown, a broad 
yellowish-brown band extending along the middle, the anterior extremity of which is enlarged 
and comprises two parallel, oblong, greenish-brown spots, and above each lateral margin there 
is a narrow, longitudinal, yellowish-brown band, several obscure lines of the same hue 
converging from these bands towards the middle. The falces are powerful, conical, and 
armed with a few teeth on the inner surface; their colour is dark-brown, tinged with red. 
The maxillae are strong, somewhat curved towards the lip, and of a brown colour, the 
extremities, which are obliquely truncated on the inner side, being much the palest. The lip 
is nearly quadrate and of a dark-brown hue; and the colour of the short oval sternum is 
yellowish-brown. The intermediate eyes of the anterior row are larger than the lateral ones. 
The legs are robust, provided with hairs and black spines, and of a yellowish-brown colour, 
slightly tinged with green, except the tarsi, which have a pale-brown hue ; faint traces of 
annuli may sometimes be observed on the thighs. The palpi are of a yellowish-brown hue, 
with the exception of the digital joint, which has a reddish-brown tint. The abdomen is 
oviform, densely covered with hairs, rather broader at the posterior than at the anterior 
extremity, convex above, projecting over the base of the cephalo-thorax; the upper part is of 
a greenish-brown colour, with a few minute dark spots distributed over its surface; a 
yellowish-brown band extends along the middle, nearly half way towards the spinners, where 
it terminates in a point, and on each side of the posterior extremity of this band there 
commences a series of obscure, yellowish-brown, and dark spots, disposed alternately; both 
series converge towards the spinners, where they meet; the under part is of a yellow colour, 
that of the branchial opercula being rather paler; the sexual organs, which are of a dark, 
reddish-brown hue, have a longitudinal septum in the middle. 
The male, though smaller than the female, resembles her in the general distribution of its 
colours, except that the tibiae, metatarsi, and tarsi of the anterior pair of legs, and the digital 
joint of the palpi, are of a dark-brown hue. The fang with which each falx is provided has a 
small prominence near its base, on the outer side, but that of the female is plain. The cubital 
an$ radial joints of the palpi are short, the latter being the larger; the digital joint is of an 
oblong oval form, and has a plain, curved claw at its extremity ; it is convex and hairy exter¬ 
nally, and concave within, at the base; this concavity comprises the palpal organs, which are 
neither highly developed nor very complicated in structure, and are of a dark, red-brown 
colour. 
Meadows and pastures are the favorite haunts of this species, which pairs in May. In 
June the female fabricates a globular cocoon of compact white silk, measuring jth of an inch 
in diameter ; it is encompassed by a narrow zone of a slighter texture, and usually comprises 
about 115 spherical eggs, of a pale-yellow colour, which, like those of the other species of this 
genus, are not agglutinated together. The cocoon has the appearance of being embossed, in 
consequence of its close application to the eggs. Both sexes sometimes excavate elliptical 
cavities in the ground, generally under stones, and remain concealed in them during the 
winter months. 
In the summer of 1836 an adult female was captured, which had a short but perfectly 
