INTRODUCTION. 



We have published, from time to time, in the Proceedings 

 of the Natural History Society of Wisconsin, papers which in- 

 cluded descriptions of Mtidse from Central America and Mexico. 

 These papers are : " The Sub-Familj'^ Lyssomanse," " The Ant- 

 like Attidffi," " The Marptusa Group," " The Homalattus 

 Group," and two short pajjers on " Attida3 from Guatemala." 

 Our paper on North American Attidte also contains a few Mex- 

 ican species. In the following paper we give a number of new 

 genera and species from the same region, the material for 

 which has come to us from various sources. Several small col- 

 lections have been sent to us bj' our correspondents ; the late 

 Count Keyserling sent us, at different times, a number of 

 species, mostly from Panama ; and a large part of our collec- 

 tion we naade ourselves in Guatemala and Honduras. 



The artificial key wliich accompanies this work includes 

 all the species from Central America and Mexico that are 

 kuow'n to us, the old as well as the new. It is designed to les- 

 sen, somewhat, the difficulty of determining species, but we 

 ourselves, consider it only a partial solution of the problem. 



Including this paper there have now been described about 

 one hundred species from Central America and Mexico. A 

 more thorough investigation of these regions will doubtless 

 bring to light at least one hundred more, and consequently 

 any generalizations upon geographical distribution would be 

 scarcely satisfactory. Of the forty-three genera thus far de- 

 scribed only thirteen are found in the United States. 



The drawings for the genus Parnsenus and some of 

 those for Dendryphantes and Habrocestum were made by Miss 

 Lydia Hart. All of the others were made by Mr. .1. H. Emer- 

 ton. 



The measurements are given in millimeters. 



