On EUROPEAN SPIDERS. 163 
Theraphosa and Aranea (just as he had before divided them into Mygale 
and Aranea), after which each of these great generic groups was subdivided 
into a number of smaller groups, "genres": Theraphosa into Mygale, Ole- 
tera and Missulena; Aranea into Lycosa, Dolomedes, Ctenus ete. The name 
Aranea has been entirely abandoned as a generic name, simply because 
the whole Order of Spiders ought to be called Aranew; but any sound reason 
for not preserving the name Theraphosa for some portion of the forms to 
which it has once belonged, it would assuredly be hard to assign. We 
propose therefore with EICHWALD to replace the name Mygale, which had 
already been appropriated by Cuvier, with Theraphosa, giving Th. Blondii 
as type of the genus. Theraphosa (WALCK.) NOB. is therefore = Mygale 
(WaLck.) C. Kocnu 1850. 
We also desire to call attention to the following circumstance. When, 
in 1811, OLIVIER !) adopted WALCKENAERS genus Alygale as separate from 
Aranea, he restricted it to "les Araignees mineuses”, excluding all the other 
Mygale-species or "les Araignées aviculaires" , which he referred to Aranea. 
He was followed by Lamarck ?), who also (in the year’ 1818) received into 
the genus Mygale only "les Araignées mineuses"; but for "les Araignées 
aviculaires” this author formed a separate genus, Avicularia LAm.?). It 
was not till several years later (1825), that LATREILLE gave to "/es Arai- 
gnées mineuses” the name " Ctenize", and in opposition to OLIVIER'S and LA- 
MARCK’S limitation of the genus A/ygale, applied that name to "/es Araignees 
aviculaires". It is accordingly evident that 7f the name Mygale were to be 
preserved to any genus of spiders at all, it ought, according to the law of 
priority, to belong to that genus which is usually called Cteniza LATR. 
(Nemesia Sav. et AUD.) — We have preferred the denomination Theraphosa 
to that of Avicularia for the species of "les Araignées aviculaires”, which 
in Koch and SIMON bear the name of Mygale, and thus have been by them 
considered as types of the genus JMwgale WALCK., partly because Thera- 
phosa is the older appellation of the two, partly because the name Avicula- 
ria ought in our opinion to be reserved for that group of species among 
"les Mygales avieulaires", which comprises LINNÉ'S Aranea avicularia. (Vid. 
p. 169 sub gen. Avicularia (LAM.)). 
We divide provisionally "les Mygales aviculaires” into the 4 follow- 
ing genera, which number will however doubtless hereafter, when these 
animals have been more accurately studied, be considerably augmented: 
1) Encyel. Méth., VIII, p. 83. 
2) Hist. Nat. d. Anim. sans Vertébres, V, p. 105. 
3) Ibid., p. 107. 
