The Lycosid spiders Pardosa pullata, P. prativaga, P. nigriceps and Alopecosa pulverulenta are
very common on the grasslands. Pardosa amentata is also a common species normally found in
damper situations than the others. Like Salricids they have good eyesight and the males are more
colourful with conspicuous palps. Courtship involves various displays with the front legs and palps.
The female Lycosid carries her eggsac around with her attached to her spinnerets and she is so
instinctively devoted to the eggsac that if it is removed and taken away she will replace it with a small
snail shell, pellet or even rabbit dropping (Bristowe, 1958). After hatching the spiderlings are also
carried around on the back of the mother until they can fend for themselves.
Many Linyphiid spiders are found in grassland and species recorded from the Forest plains include
Ceratinopsis stativa, Savignya frontata and Cnephalocotes obscurus. In Savignya the male's head is
raised into a tall snout with a brush of hairs at the top (Fig. 2-3). Cnephalocotes has a very rugose
carapace and the the tarsus of the male palp is very distinctive with a comb like longitudinal ridge
bearing warts each with a bristle (Fig. 2-7).
In areas of rough grassland the little cribellate spider Dictyna arundinacea is common. It makes its
web in the top of tall plants like thistles and Umbellifers. The male and female seem to live together
for long periods without animosity even sharing prey. I have found that D. uncinata usually seems to
be found higher up than D. arundinacea in bushes and scrub.
The straw coloured Tibellus oblongus is common in long grass. It is a rather elongate crab spider
with long legs. When it is resting along grass leaves and stems with its legs stretched forward and
backward it is very difficult to see.
The nursery web spider Pisaura mirabilis can also be found. In early summer the male will catch
and wrap a fly to present to the female. Her predatory instincts are thus occupied by this gift during
the mating, a strategy that is also used by predatory insects such as some of the Empid and Asilid
flies. The female later carries her large egg sac around held under her sternum by her chelicerae but
before the eggs hatch she gives up this wandering life to spin a conspicuous nursery web in the grass.
This protects the egg sac and later the spiderlings while the mother stands guard on the outside.
Rough grass is also the sort of habitat to find the slow moving pirate spiders Ero cambridgei and
E. furcata. They are predatory on other spiders and only the slightest movements will reveal their
interest in another spider. When the victim comes within reach this stealth is replaced by a rapid attack
in which a leg of the victim is bitten, killing it almost instantaneously.
Marshes and Ponds
Although there are many ponds and lakes in the Forest they seem to have largely been neglected
by arachnologists. The most interesting habitats are likely to be found where the edges are marshy
and there are areas of vegetation such as Typha or Phragmites marsh. Here spiders such as the Lycosids
Pirata hygrophilus and P. piraticus, the Araneid Larinioides cornutus and the Linyphiids Hypomma
bituberculatum, Oedothorax gibbosus and Lophomma punctatum may be found.
The large Linyphiid Floronia bucculenta was recorded in 1900 by Frank P. Smith. Surprisingly it
does not seem to have been recorded again. This interesting spider builds a sheet web amongst tall
vegetation in damp places. The spider has a high abdomen with a pattern of light spots but if the spider
is disturbed these spots rapidly contract and the spider drops to the ground, now a dingy brown colour,
perfect camouflage for the surface of the earth.
Another Linyphiid spider Drepanotylus uncatus was recorded at the same Fungus-Foray in 1900
by F. O. Pickard Cambridge from a 'half dried-up swamp at Loughton'. This species has never been
recorded again either from the Forest or elsewhere in the county.
The sphagnum bogs that still exist in the Forest are interesting habitats and only last year (1990)
Agyneta cauta, a small rather ant-like Linyphiid, was recorded new to the county from Lodge Road
Bog North and South. The Water Spider Argyroneta aquatica has also been recorded here and from
ponds near Whipps Cross and the Conservation Centre. The spider is quite likely to occur in many of
the ponds and lakes. It is the only spider that actually lives permanently under the water surface where
it builds a silk home which it stocks with air. The spider can swim freely about under the water,
bringing air down from the surface with its abdomen. It is this layer of air over its body which gives
it a silvery appearance under the water.
Outhouses and Gardens
Various spiders of woodland and grassland habitats are likely to occur in gardens, particularly
species such as the crab- spider Philodromus dispar and the Araneid Araniella cucurbitina. It would
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