1899] DISTRIBUTION OF THE ARACHNIDA 219 



lu the American continent the area inhabited by this family may 

 be termed the Neotropical. The characteristic genus is Mastigoproctus, 

 most nearly allied to the Assamese Uroproctus, and extending from the 

 Southern States (California, Texas, and Florida), into the heart of 

 Brazil and including the Greater Antilles. Up to the present time the 

 genus Thelyphonellus is only known from the northern parts of South 

 America. On this basis we may perhaps separate the region into two 

 sub-regions, a Northern or Central American, and a Southern or 

 Brazilian. 



Distribution of the Amblypygi. 



By certain structural characters which it is beyond the scope of the 

 present paper to discuss, the Tailless Pedipalpi or Amblypygi may 

 be divided into three families — the Admetidae, Charontidae, and 

 Tarantulidae. 



The Admetidae are confined to America, where the family is repre- 

 sented by three genera : Hetcrophrynus, with 3 or 4 species, is 

 spread over the whole of the northern part of South America, including 

 Colombia, Venezuela, Guiana, and in the valley of the Amazons as far 

 as Para. Probably the genus spreads into the Brazilian forests, to the 

 south of the Amazons ; but there are as yet no data to substantiate 

 this belief. It is at all events absent from the Antilles. This archi- 

 pelago is peopled by the genus Admetus which has been found in Cuba, 

 Hayti, and the Bahamas, southwards to Barbadoes, thence to Trinidad, 

 and over the whole of the area occupied by Hetcrophrynus in South 

 America, and northwards through Central America into Texas and 

 Lower California. The species, however, fall into three well-marked 

 groups, which may perhaps be regarded as of generic value. The first 

 of these, typified by A. fascimanus (mexicanus), spreads from Mexico, 

 Cuba, and the Bahamas to Panama ; the second (A. whytei) is met with 

 in Texas, Lower California, Mexico, and Nicaragua ; the third (A. 

 palmatus) ranges from Cuba, through the Antilles into Guiana, 

 Colombia, and North Brazil. The third genus which has been estab- 

 lished, namely, Phrynopsis, is represented by one or two species met 

 with in Mexico and California. 



The second family, the Charontidae, ranges from Southern Burma 

 and the Andaman Islands over the whole of the Indo-Malaysian and 

 Austro-Malaysian Islands as far as New Caledonia and Samoa. So far 

 as is known the species are few in number, and each is the repre- 

 sentative of a peculiar genus. Stygoj)hrynus and Catagaeus have been 

 found at Moulmein in Burma. Charon extends from Java, Amboina, 

 and the Philippine Islands through Papua to the Solomon Islands. 

 Sarax has an equally wide distribution, and has been obtained in the 

 Andaman Islands, Singapore, Borneo, the Philippine Islands, Papua, 

 and New Britain. Charinus, the most easterly representative of the 

 family, occurs in New Caledonia, the Fiji Islands, and Samoa. 



