Synemosyna formica.—A small spider so much like an ant as to be often mistaken for one [(fig. 163)]. It is about quarter of an inch long and very slender. The cephalothorax is narrowed behind and the abdomen in front, and each has a deep depression in the middle. The stem of the abdomen is flat, and widened behind so that it is nearly as wide as the ends of the thorax and abdomen, which it connects. The front middle eyes are large and cover two-thirds of the width of the front of the head, and the rest of the eyes are small. The legs are all slender, the hind pair longest. The general color is black, with yellowish or orange-white markings. There is a triangular white spot in front of the dorsal groove, and one on each side widening downward under the posterior eyes. On the abdomen there is a white stripe extending downward from the dorsal depression on each side and uniting in a large white patch underneath [(fig. 164)]. In pale individuals the whole front half of the abdomen is light yellow or orange brown. The second legs are entirely white, the others partly black. The male has the head higher and is darker colored and more slender.

This spider not only resembles an ant in form and color but moves like an ant. It does not jump like most Attidæ, though it can do so, but walks and runs irregularly about and lifts its first legs high like the antennæ of ants.

Lyssomanes viridis.—A bright green spider common in the southern states. The arrangement of the eyes differs from that usual in the Attidæ by the front lateral eyes being higher and closer together, so that they are over and behind the front middle pair [(fig. 165)]. The cephalothorax is narrow in front,—not much more than half as wide as it is across the middle. The abdomen is narrower than the thorax and more than twice as long as wide. The female is a third of an inch in length, and the male quarter of an inch. The legs are long and slender, the first pair longest and thickest, in the male half an inch in length and in the female a little shorter. In the female the mandibles are vertical and about as long as the height of the head. In the male they are as long as the cephalothorax, curved apart, and extended almost horizontally in front of the head. The color is light transparent green, sometimes without any markings. Usually there are four pairs of small black spots on the abdomen, and there are black spots around the eyes, except around the front pair, where there is a little orange color. They live on low bushes and mature early in the summer.

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.

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.