hearing upon the Classification of Spiders. 311 



where it was placed by Marx. In the Dipneumones he 

 establishes a second new tribe, Pseudoterritelariae, for the 

 Dysderidffi, and a third, Cavitelariai, for Filistata alone. 



In 1890, however, Mons. Simon *, who has probably 

 examined more spiders from all parts of the world than any 

 man living, proposed a classification which differs materially 

 from that of Thorell. In the first place he divides the order 

 into two suborders, Aranete Theraphos^e and Araneae veraa, 

 the former to comprise the Liphistiida^ and AvicnlariidEe, the 

 latter the Dv^waxxmonQ^ + Ilyyochilus. The abandonment 

 of tlie old names Tetrapneumones and Dipneuraones is 

 enforced by the removal of Hypochilas, which lias four lung- 

 sacs, from the vicinity of the Aviculariidse to that of the 

 tracheate spiders. 



This author further subdivides his Araneaj verse into 

 Cribellatffi and Ecribellatse, for those with and those without 

 the cribellu7n, and does not follow Dr. Thorell in the adop- 

 tion of the tribal groups Orbitelari^, Tubitelari^e, &c. 



The classification that I venture here to put forward is new 

 so far as the position of Liphistius is concerned, and for the 

 rest is a combination of the systems that have briefly been 

 discussed. 



As stated above, it seems to me that the value of the 

 characters of Liphistius have been immensely underrated, I 

 consequently propose to divide the Araneee into Mesothel^ and 

 Opisthothelffi, the first for Liphistius, the second for the rest. 

 As regards the subdivision of the Opisthothelte, I am entirely 

 in accord with Mons. Simon and Dr. Bertkau that Rypo- 

 chilus should not be associated with the Theraphosidse, being 

 more nearly related to the Dipneumones, in spite of its four 

 lung-sacs. This view stands in the way of the adoption of 

 the terms Tetrapneumones and Dipneumones ; but since the 

 double terminology of Mons. Simon seems to me somewhat 

 cumbersome, I venture to propose as substitutes the names 

 Mygalomorphae and Arachnomorphas t- The former sub- 

 order will contain at least two families, Atypidse and Thera- 

 phosidas or Aviculariidje. The latter will correspond exactly 



* Aun. Soc. Eut. Fr. 1890, pp. 79-82. 



t I use the name MygaloinorplifC because the spiders of this group are 

 still spoken of collectively by the uninitiated as Myyale ; and this name 

 has been introduced into nearly all text-books of zoology and into very 

 many popular and semipopular works on natural history to designate the 

 large hairy Territelarise, which are so familiar to every one. Similarly 

 the name Arachnomorphse seems applicable to a group of spiders which 

 embraces all the common house and field species, those being doubtless 

 the kinds that the Greeks spoke of comprehensively as apdxyt^s cr 

 upax^n- 



