70 Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. 



Among the sedentary spiders, Latrodectus scelio, Thor,, which, 

 as the Katipo, has gained a reputation in New Zealand, is more 

 widely spread probably than any other, I have it from all parts 

 of Victoria, New South Wales, Southern Queensland, Central 

 Australia, Adelaide and Albany. Araneus verrucosus, Walck.; is 

 common in New Zealand and Victoria. Gasteracantha minax, 

 Thor., is abundant from Sydney downwards through Victoria, 

 South Australia, and west to Albany, Arachnura higginsii 

 ranges from Darling Downs, Queensland, through Victoria to 

 Albany, West Australia. 



Some of the Laterigrade spiders, Voconia insignis, Thor. ; V. 

 dolosa, L. Koch ; V. immanis, L. Koch ; and Delena cancerides, 

 Walck, are, as might be expected from their powers of locomo- 

 tion, found in all parts of the continent hitherto searched, but 

 specimens are a good deal larger in the north than in the south. 

 In my present paper, confined to one district, I have recorded 

 64 genera and 139 species, in which 6 genera and 29 species are 

 new. 



I am not, however, publishing descriptions of any new Salti- 

 grade spiders, as we are awaiting fresh classifications of this group, 

 the Attidae, from M. Eugene Simon, in France, and Dr. and 

 Mrs. Peckham, in America, who have been engaged on them for 

 some time past. The present division of this important group is 

 admittedly imperfect, and von Keyserling's classification of the 

 Australian genera is only tentative. 



In spite of the very large number of specimens which M. 

 Eugene Simon must have examined for the arrangement of his 

 genera of the Spiders of the world, a great work never before 

 attempted, it would seem as if he had not had the opportunity of 

 comparing many of our Australian forms. In fairly numerous 

 instances specimens in this collection do not fall in with his 

 synopses. I have noted some of the cases to which I refer, and 

 will endeavour later on to supply a fuller list. 



I cannot too gratefully express my thanks to Mr. R. I. Pocock, 

 of the Natural History Museum, South Kensington, and 

 Professor Baldwin Spencer, Director of the National Museum of 

 Victoria, for their ever ready advice and assistance, and the 

 opportunities afforded me by each of them in comparing the types 

 in the collections under their charge. 



