XV CLASSIFICATION 391 
described almost all belong to the northern hemisphere. Five 
are natives of Kurope, and two are included in the English fauna. 
The best known is Atypus ajfinis, which has been found in several 
localities in the south of England, and 
which has occurred on the Devil’s Dyke, 
near Cambridge. The female measures 
about half an inch in length, the male 
being smaller. It burrows a deep cylin- 
drical hole at the edge of a grassy or 
heathery bank and lines it with a loose 
tube of silk, which extends considerably 
beyond the orifice of the burrow, either 
lying flat on the ground, or raised up : 
and eaciied to the eaten) oma herbage. pr¢. 903. mE dias Giese 
There is no lid, but the upper ond of the 
tube is always found closed, whether by its elasticity or by the 
deliberate operation of the spider is not known. The animal 
is nocturnal in its habits. Another species, A. beckii, occurs very 
rarely in the south of England. 
The genus Atypus has representatives in Central and South 
Europe, North Africa, Japan, Java, and North America. Of the 
other genera, Calommata inhabits Central and South-East Asia 
and Japan, Brachybothrium, Atypoides, and Hexura are peculiar 
to North America, while Mecicobothrium comprises a single species 
(I. thorelli) native to the Argentine.* 
Fam. 4. Filistatidae.— Cribellate Spiders of moderate size, 
usually brown or yellow in colour, with smooth integuments and 
somewhat long tapering legs. The eight eyes are compactly 
arranged, and the palpal organs of the male are of simple struc- 
ture. The six spinnerets are short, the anterior pair being thick 
and separated. Two pulmonary sacs, with two minute tracheal 
stigmata close behind them and widely separate. 
There is but one genus, Filistata, in this family. About 
fifteen species have been described, five of which inhabit the 
Mediterranean region. Three are found in America, and others 
inhabit Central Asia, the Philippines, and Australia. The genus 
-1 The three families mentioned above constitute the ‘‘ Araneae Theraphosae ” of 
Simon, the remaining families being distinguished as ‘‘ Araneae Verae.” The 
Aviculariidae and the Atypidae are united by some authors to form the Thera- 
phosidae. 
