Lycosa polita.—This is a short-legged species resembling in size and color Lycosa pratensis. The hairs are very short and often entirely absent from the cephalothorax, which is smooth and shining. The eyes are very close together, especially the two of the middle row, which is much shorter than the front row [(fig. 171)]. The cephalothorax and legs are often light brown without any markings, but in some individuals there are irregular dark marks along the sides of the thorax and broken rings on the legs. The abdomen is gray, light in the middle, with dark transverse marks behind and closely placed dark spots at the sides, much as in Tegenaria medicinalis and Amaurobius. The abdomen is light underneath, with a darker middle line and irregular oblique rows of spots at the sides.

Lycosa nidifex.—This spider lives in sandy regions,—the females in holes ten or twelve inches deep, the adult males on the surface of the ground. The males [(fig. 174)] are half or five-eighths of an inch long and spread two inches. They are colored like the sand,—a little redder sometimes in the middle spots and on the femora, and gray at the sides. There is a spot in the middle of the abdomen edged with black and a black band on each side of the head divided in front, the branches extending to the lateral eyes of both rows. The ends of the palpi and the spinnerets are black. The mandibles are black, except in the middle, where they are covered with bright yellow hairs. On the under side [(fig. 175)] the two front pairs of legs, sternum, and mouth parts are black, the hinder legs and abdomen light sand color, like the back. The female [(fig. 173)] is larger,—three-quarters of an inch or more in length. The color is more gray or slate color, darker in front and lighter behind, as in the male. The cephalothorax has a light gray band in the middle, and the abdomen a middle dark band broken at the sides by three or four pairs of light spots. The front two pairs of legs are thicker than the others and more closely covered with hair in both sexes.