Pirata piraticus.—A small and active spider living in short grass in summer and under leaves in winter. The colors and shape of the body are much like Lycosa pratensis [(fig. 168)], but the legs are proportionally larger and longer, and the colors brighter. The length is about a quarter of an inch. The front and second rows of eyes are of the same length, those of the second row large and their diameter apart [(fig. 209)]. The eyes of the upper row are nearly as large as those of the second, and twice as far apart. The color is pale yellow, with gray or black markings. The cephalothorax has a narrow light line in the middle and one on each side [(fig. 208)]. In the middle of the front of the abdomen is a light stripe with dark edges, which tapers into a line or row of spots behind the middle. At the sides of this are light stripes that unite behind, and outside of these are dark markings becoming smaller behind. The legs have conspicuous dark spines, especially the hinder pair, and are faintly marked with rings or sometimes are without markings.

Dolomedes and Ocyale differ in many respects from the other Lycosidæ. They are more flattened, have the head lower, and the eyes all more nearly of the same size. The front row of eyes are small and near together. The upper row is about twice as long and strongly curved, and the eyes are nearly equal in size and twice as large as those of the front row (figs. [214, 216]). In Dolomedes the lower eyes are about half as high as the top of the head. In Ocyale they are lower and farther apart, and the head resembles still more Tibellus of the Thomisidæ. Both Ocyale and Dolomedes resemble this family in their flattened body and wide thorax.

Dolomedes sexpunctatus.—Dark greenish gray or, in young spiders, yellow, with a silvery white line each side the whole length of the body, meeting in front under the eyes and reaching back to the spinnerets [(fig. 210)]. In the middle of the cephalothorax is a narrow light line. On the hinder half of the abdomen are four pairs of small white spots, and sometimes another pair near the front end. On the under side the general color is lighter, and there are six dark spots on the sternum [(fig. 211)]. The cephalothorax is three-quarters as wide as long, but looks narrower on account of the white stripes. The abdomen is proportionally longer than in tenebrosus [(fig. 213)]. The full-grown female is six-tenths of an inch long, with a spread of an inch and three-quarters. In winter and spring the half-grown young are very common everywhere. It lives near water and runs easily on it, each foot making a depression on the surface without becoming wet.

Dolomedes tenebrosus.—This is one of our largest spiders, spreading its legs over four inches. The color is light and dark gray. The legs are indistinctly marked with light and dark rings and have long dark spines [(fig. 213)]. The thorax is dark in the middle and lighter toward the eyes. On each side are light bands that extend around under the eyes and meet in front. The abdomen has three pairs of transverse dark stripes, each with a light border on the hinder edge. The cephalothorax is four-tenths of an inch long and three-tenths wide, half as wide in front, and nearly straight on the front edge. It is rounded in the middle, but not very high, and just behind the eyes is nearly flat. The under side of the thorax and legs is light colored, without markings, the abdomen a little darker. The abdomen is as long as the thorax, widest across the middle, and a little pointed behind. The male has longer legs and is more slender and strongly marked; under the fourth femora near the end is a bunch of stiff hairs. The male palpi are long, with large tarsi and palpal organs and a long hook on the outer side of the tarsus. They live near water, on the ground or low bushes. The female carries her cocoon in her mandibles and makes a large bunch of silk in the bushes, in which the young live for some time after hatching.