brown spots, disposed alternately, both o f which converge to the spinners; the sides are
mottled with black ; and the branchial opercula are of a dark-brown colour.
The male is much smaller and darker coloured than the female. Its cephalo-thorax is
black, with a white band extending along the middle, the pale lines near the margins being
almost obliterated. The falces are of a very dark, reddish-brown colour ; the maxillæ have a
red-brown hue ; and the sternum is black. The abdomen is black, with a tinge of brown on
the under part, and a profusion of white hairs on the upper part. The legs are long and
.slender, and the thighs have a brown-black hue, except at the extremities, which, with the
tibiae, metatarsi and tarsi, are of a pale-brown colour. The palpi are black ; the cubital and
radial joints are short, and the latter, which is the larger, is abundantly supplied with black
hairs ; the digital joint is of an oblong-oval form, convex and hairy externally, and concave
within, at the base; this concavity comprises the palpal organs, which are moderately
developed, with a prominent, slightly curved, pointed spine, directed forwards, and aYe of a
dark-brown colour, approaching to black.
The description of Lycosa lugubris, given by M. Walckenaer, is applicable to the male
only. Among the synonyma of this species he has included the Lycosa meridiana of M. Hahn
(‘ Die Arachn./ Band i, p. 20, tab. 5, fig. 16), a spider decidedly superior in size and unlike
it in colour, and has placed the Lycosa sylvicultrix of M. Koch, which is identical with Lycosa
lugubris, among the synonyma of Lycosa voraw (‘ Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt., tom. 1,
p. 313).
M. Koch states that the male of Lycosa alacris (Lycosa lugubris) has a fine, red spot on
the back of the digital joint (des Endgliedes) of the palpi (‘Die Arachn./ Band xv, p. 41) ;
but this must be a very unusual circumstance, as among several thousand males not one may
be observed to possess this character.
Lycosa lugubris abounds in the woods of Denbighshire and Caernarvonshire. The sexes
pair in April and May, and in the latter month the female deposits about fifty spherical eggs,
of a pale-yellow colour, not agglutinated together, in a cocoon of a lenticular form and
compact texture, composed of sük of a dull-greenish or yellowish-brown hue, and encircled by
a whitish zone of a slight fabric ; it measures one fifth of an inch in diameter.
Lycosa obscura. PI. II, fig. 11.
Lycosa obscura, Blackw., Linn. Trans., vol. xviii, p. 611.
Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series, vol. vii, p. 260.
Length of the female, 3Ü1 of an inch; length of the cephalo-thorax, rèth; breadth, i?th ;
breadth of the abdomen, „th ; length of a posterior leg, &ths ; length of a leg of the third
pair, 1th.
The. cephalo-thorax is of a dark-brown colour ; an obscure, reddish-brown band extends
along the middle, and a narrow one of the same hue above each lateral margin. The falces
are conical, and are armed with a few teeth on the inner surface ; and the sternum is heart-
shaped. These parts, with the maxillse and lip, are of a dark-brown hue, the sternum being
sparingly covered with whitish hairs, and the lip and maxillae having a tinge of red. The
legs have a reddish-brown hue, with dark-brown annuli;. the posterior pair is the longest,
and the other three pairs are nearly of equal length. The colour of the palpi is dark, reddish-
brown. The abdomen is oviform, hairy, rather broader at the posterior than at the anterior
extremity, convex above, projecting over the base of the cephalo-thorax, and has three
minute tufts of yellowish hairs in front; the upper part is of. a dark-brown colour, tinged with
red, and in the medial: line of the anterior region there is an oblong-oval band of a lighter
hue, which extends rather more than a third of its length; this band is bordered by a black
line, having an angular point on each side, near its termination, and between it and the
spinners there is a row of obscure, blackish spots ; on each side of the posterior half of the
medial line there is an indistinct series of blackish and whitish spots, disposed alternately, the
latter being the more minute, and these series converge to the spinners; the under part is
hoary, or of a pale, yellowish-brown hue; and the sexual organs, which are o f a very dark-
brown colour, tinged with red, have a longitudinal septum in the middle. After the female
has exercised her parental functions the prevailing hue of the upper parts becomes dark-
brown, almost every trace of design being effaced.
The male is rather smaller than the female, but it resembles her in colour. The cubital
and radial joints of the palpi are short, the latter being the larger; the digital joint is oval,
convex, and hairy externally, and concave within, except at the extremity, which is compact
and armed with a small, curved claw; the concavity comprises the well-developed palpal
organs, which have a strong, pointed spine near their centre, directed downwards and
outwards, and a finer one passing from the inner side obliquely under it; their colour is
reddish-brown.
In autumn, females o f this species may be seen among short grass and heath, in pastures,
and on commons in various parts of Great Britain and Ireland, with their cocoons attached to
their spinners. The cocoon is lenticular, and measures one seventh of an inch in diameter;
it is constructed of compact, pale-brown, or dull, greenish-brown silk, is encircled by a narrow,
whitish zone of a slight texture, and contains about twenty-five spherical eggs of a yellow
colour.O
n the 12th of September, 1838, a minute black insect of the family Ichneumonidce came
out of a cocoon belonging to a spider of this species, which had been placed in a phial.
Differences in size, colour, habits, and haunts, serve to distinguish Lycosa obscura from
Lycosa,paludicola, though their specific identity is assumed by M. Walckenaer (‘Hist. Nat.
des Insect. Ap t./ t. iv, p. 396).
Lycosa exigu a. PI. II, fig. 12.
Lycosa exigua, Blackw., Lond. and Edinb. Phil. Mag., third series, vol. viii, p. 490.
— — Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second'series, vol. vii, p. 261.