ANNALS 



OF 



The Entomological Society of America 



Volume I DECEMBER, 1908 Number 4 



A PRELIMINARY STUDY^OF THE ARANEAE THERAPHOSAE 



OF^CALIFORNIA. 



Chas. Piper Smith. 



CONTENTS. 



I 



Introduction: work done in"North America, north of Mexico; authors of 



species; pubhshed lists of North American forms, Marx', Simon's, Banks', 



Comstock's; hst of CaHfornian species; classification followed; recent changes in 



classification affecting forms discussed herein. 



II 

 Scope of work; territory covered; methods of collecting, preserving and 

 studj-ing material; key to species discussed; Bothriocyrtum californicum ; 

 Eutychides versicolor, synomomy, description of adult c? and 9 , ecology; 

 Aptostichus, comments on genus; A. atomarius; A. stanfordianus n. sp., des- 

 cription of adult 9 . ecology; Eurypelma californica; Brachythele longitarsis; 

 Atypoides riversi; Aliatypus n. gen.; A. californicus, description of <^ , ecology; 

 conclu.sions; bibliography. 



Comparatively" little work has been done upon the trapdoor 

 spiders and tarantulas of North America. Popularly, the trap- 

 door species, Bothrioc^'rtum californicum (Cteniza) and the 

 tarantulas, Eurypelma (Mygale hentzi, etc.), are well-known from 

 the numerous specimens put up and sold by natural history 

 dealers; but our various other forms are practically unknown to 

 most zoologists and entomologists, and have received very little 

 attention. 



N. M. Hentz, the pioneer of Amicrican arachnology, writing 

 betw^een the years 182 1 and 1850, described six species of Araneae 

 theraphosae, all from the South-eastern States. Two of these are 

 male and female of one species, however, and are the same as one 

 of the five species attributed to North America by H. Lucas, a 

 Frenchman, whose papers appeared from 1834 to 1845. Walcke- 

 naer, also a Frenchman, in a work published in 1837, named four 

 North American forms, only one of which goes by his name 

 toda}'. In 1852, Girard published Mygale hentzi. Rev. 0. P. 



207 



