THE LYCOSIDÆ
The Lycosidæ are among the commonest spiders, or, at any rate, those most often seen. Most of them live near the ground and move actively about without attempting to conceal themselves. Their colors are black and white or the colors of the ground, stones, and dead leaves, sometimes nearly uniform all over the body, in other kinds arranged in a distinct pattern, with strong contrasts between the light and dark parts. In some species the markings are brighter and more characteristic on the under side than on the back. The legs are long, the fourth pair longest. The spines on the legs are long and often darker colored than the skin, and when the spider is active they stand out from the legs and make them appear larger. The first and second legs are more covered with fine short hairs and have the spines shorter and less easily seen than the third and fourth. The feet have three claws, the under one small and covered by the surrounding hairs. The eyes have a peculiar arrangement, the front row being small and nearly straight, the middle pair of the upper row just above them and much larger, while the lateral eyes of this row are carried back and upward on the sides of the head so that the eyes are really in three rows of four, two, and two [(fig. 170)]. In those species with low heads, like Dolomedes, the upper row of eyes is less curved and smaller, and the whole arrangement resembles that in Tibellus and others of the Thomisidæ. The body is usually long and the head high, the abdomen about as long and as wide as the cephalothorax and as thick as it is wide.
![[(fig. 170)]](#f168-0.png){kind=link}
Our largest spiders belong to this family. The females carry their eggs in round cocoons attached to their spinnerets, and the young for a short time after coming out are carried about on the back of the mother. Dolomedes and Ocyale carry their cocoons in the mandibles and spin a loose web in bushes, where the young live for a time after leaving the cocoon. The young of most species pass the winter half grown and mature the next summer. Most of the little spiders seen spinning their threads on the tops of plants and fences in the Indian summer are young Lycosidæ.
Most of these spiders belong to two genera, Lycosa and Pardosa, the first including the larger species, with the eyes covering only a small part of the front of the head and the front row about the same length as the second; the other, Pardosa, consisting of comparatively small species, with the four upper eyes very large and covering the whole top of the head and the front row much shorter than the second.