Who of you are freaked out, grossed out, or scared to death of spiders?  I have always been!  But somehow a change came over me a couple days ago, when I spotted a little, fairly short-legged spider struggling to crawl out of our bathroom sink.  It was small enough that I couldn't focus on the detail too well (probably to my benefit, for if I had, I probably would have freaked out), but I was fascinated by the unassuming shape and innumerable tiny black and brown stripes on his legs (crosswise).  I asked Charlie, our employee and resident PhD to look at it, but his aging eyes failed him and he had no information to offer, so I delved into my copy of the National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Insects & Spiders, but with no exact matches with the photos.  Charlie encouraged me by saying it could be a young spider, and may look differently than those fully grown.  I read a few descriptions and surmised it could be a close relative to a burrowing wolf spider, but they prefer sandy areas, and our property has rich soil.  All that was left to do was quickly sketch it and record the circumstance in my notebook, in hopes I ran across more information soon.

Across more info I certainly came!  Today I was tasked to pull weeds out of the blackberry beds in the large greenhouse on our property.  Between the rows are walking paths of wood chips, and covering the beds themselves right now is straw, to keep the plants from thawing too early in spring.  I didn't start weeding until close to dusk, but as soon as I started walking on the chips and pulling out weeds, little black-brown spiders scurried away from me in all directions!  There were so many, but too fast to get a look at!  I ran back and grabbed my camera to try to get a shot in the failing light of evening.  In addition to pictures, I studied the little guys (and girls).  I noticed all sorts of things about them.  I saw a great number of them, which made me familiar with their similarities and slight differences in young vs. old and male vs. female.  I found no webs, no spiders climbing, but always scurrying away to hide in the ground.  In one area I found a small white sac under some straw, broken open, with a few tiny eggs left inside.  As it got dark, I became discouraged by my camera's abilities.  Then I turned over an old dry leaf and on the underside found the biggest, most ornately designed spider of the breed who had just secured prey!  Now I had tons of information to crosscheck with the spiders in my field guide.

I came back in and went to work.  I started with the burrowing wolf spider, but, once again, no sand.  Plus, after seeing so many of the spiders, I clearly saw the difference in appearance.  So I scanned the other similar spiders...maybe another wolf spider or garden spider...oh! That's it!  Lycosa gulosa -- the Forest Wolf Spider!  The picture matched the shape and size perfectly, and after seeing different varieties, I saw the color resemblence, too. And check out the specs:

Size: 3/8-1/5"
Color: "Dark brown with grayish-yellow middorsal stripe on cephalothorax and narrow grayish-yellow strip on each side."
Habitat: "Woods, among litter"
Range: "Maine to Georgia, west to Utah, north to southern Manitoba.
Food: small insects"
Life Cycle: "Female drags eggs in a spherical sac until they hatch..."

"This spider hides among litter by day, hunts at night.  It makes no nest or silken shelter, although it secures a dragline before leaping upon potential prey. The light of a flashlight is reflected from its silvery eyes, making this wolf spider easy to find at night."

How perfect of a match is that?!  No webs, spherical sac, lives under loose ground coverings, the grayish yellow stripe, even the shiny eyes matched my pictures!  How thankful I was after reading that, that I got to see these guys at night.  What was my consternation became my pride, for it proved the shiny eyes and I got to see one hunt.  Below are my pictures (for those of you who are not arachnaphobic).