742 ME. E. I. PococK ON ETHIOPIAN spiDEES. [June 15, 



Family Theeaphosid^, Thorell (sensu stricto). 



The classification of the large Spiders referred to in text-books 

 as ' Mi/c/ale,' and known at the present time to systematists as 

 Avicularnda' or Therajpliosido', has hitherto proved to be a task of 

 great difficulty and can as yet by no means be regarded as definitely 

 settled. It is needless now to enumerate in detail the steps by 

 which our knowledge of the group has been built up, and to trace 

 the gradual appreciation of the value of characters for grouping 

 the genera into natural assemblages. For practical purposes it 

 will be sufficient to refer back no further than 1892, that is to say 

 to Mons. Simon's latest classification \ which is a modification and 

 an extension of the one propounded twenty years earlier by 

 Dr. Anton Ausserer^. 



Simon classifies the Aviculariinae (= Theraphosidae, Thorell, as 

 adopted by me) as follows : — 



a. Scopulae * of at least the posterior tarsi divided by a line 



of bristles. 



a' . Tarsal scopuliB of all the legs divided IschiocolecB. 



b'. Tarsal scopulae of 1st and 2nd legs undivided. 



a^. Tarsal scopulae of 3rd and 4th legs divided Chmiopelmateis. 



b-. Tarsal scopula of 4th leg only divided. 



«'. Legs armed with numerous spines Crypddromece. 



b^. Legs without spines, except on the tip of the pro- 

 tarsi Phlogiem. 



b. Tarsal scopidae of all the legs undivided. 

 a*. Legs without spines, or at most a few. 



a^. Tarsi and protarsi narrower ; generally spines at the 

 tip of the protarsi ; thoracic fovea generally semi- 

 lunar Selenocosmiecs. 



b'^. Tarsi and protarsi wider ; legs not spined ; fovea not 

 semilunar. 

 a!^. Thoracic fovea minute ; anterior legs longer than 



the posterior Poecilotherieee. 



¥. Thoracic fovea large and deep ; posterior legs longer 



than the anterior AviciilarU'cB. 



M. Legs with many spines. 



a'. Posterior femora internally scopulate ; protarsus of 



4th pair not scopulate Theraphosece. 



b~. Posterior femora not scopulate; protarsus of 4th leg 

 with small scopula. 

 a**. Protarsus of 1st leg thickly scopulate to the base 



and usually without basal spines EurypelmatecB. 



b*. Protarsus of 1st leg with scopula not reaching the 



base; with basal spines Homaonimatecs. 



* ' Scopula' is the terra applied to the pad of velvety hairs that clothes the 

 tarsus and sometimes the protarsus of the appendages. 



Thus Mons. Simon's system rests primarily upon the presence 

 or absence of a divisional line of setae upon the tarsal scopulae. 

 But when discussing the value of the character as applied both to 

 genera and groups of genera, I have elsewhere ^ remarked : — " If 



1 Hist. Nat. Araignees, i. p. 132 (1892). 



2 Verb. z.-b. Wien, 1871, pp. 122-224, also op. cit. xxv. 1875, pp. 125-204. 



3 Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (6) xvi. p. 228 (1895). 



