IV PREFACE. 



included, and a preference has been given to those forms of 

 which specimens were available for description. It is to be 

 hoped that the present work, by facilitating the study of 

 Indian Spiders, will increase the number of observers and 

 collectors, so that at some future time a far more complete 

 account of these animals may become practicable. 



I welcome this opportunity of expressing my grateful 

 acknowledgments to those who have rendered the work 

 possible by lending or collecting specimens : to Major Alcock, 

 I.M.S., Superintendent of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, 

 for the loan of typical examples of species described by 

 Stoliczka and Simon, and to Dr. R. Gestro for extending 

 to me the same kindness in connection with types of 

 species described by Thorell and preserved in the Museo 

 Civico at Genoa. The help that I have received from many 

 friends and strangers, too numerous to thank in detail, is 

 acknowledged in the following pages. Especially am I 

 indebted to Mr. R. C. Wroughton, of the Indian Forest 

 Service, and to Mr. H. M. Phipson, Honorary Secretary of 

 the Bombay Natural History Society, whose influence and 

 energy in procuring material have vastly increased our 

 knowledge of Indian Arachnoiogy. 



R. I. POCOCK. 



October 16th, 1900. 



