1903.] GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF SPIDERS. 367 
Oligocene. At the present time the family is represented by 
Adonea and Dorceus in the southern area of the Mediterranean ; 
by Dresserus and Seothyra in Tropical and South Africa; by 
Stegodyphus in the Mediterranean Region, India, Ceylon, and 
Burma in the Oriental Region, and East and South Africa in the 
Ethiopian Region; by resus, which extends across Europe and 
Asia from England to China, being especially abundant in the 
Mediterranean Region and also occurs in South Africa. The 
absence of this group from Madagascar points to a late (probably 
Pliocene) incursion from the nor th into Afri ‘ica, which, in conjunc- 
tion with its failure to reach North America and Australia, 
also explains its absence from South America, 
The only existing genus of Urocteidee, Uractea, was represented 
in the European Oligocene. At the present time it is found in 
the Mediterranean Region, China, Japan, India, and South Africa. 
The apparent absence of the genus from Madagascar indicates a 
late movement into South Africa. 
The Palpimanide are also alleged to date back to the Oligocene. 
The most primitive member of the family, Huttonia, constituting 
the Huttoniine, is now restricted to New Zealand. The more 
specialised Stenochilinze are confined to the Oriental Region, 
where they range from Bombay to the Philippines. The Palpi- 
manine, the most specialised of the three, to which the Oligocene 
genus belongs, are represented by two groups, the Chedimez and 
the Palpimanee. The latter, containing the single genus Palpi- 
manus, occurs in the Mediterranean Region, Western India, and 
East and South Africa; the former is represented by Boagrus in 
the Malay Peninsula, Steriphopus in Ceylon, Sarascelis in the 
Malay Peninsula and tropical West Africa, Diaphorocellus in 
South Africa, and by Otiothops and Aniscedus in South America. 
The survival of the primitive type, Huttonia, in New Zealand 
assigns great antiquity to this group. The Stenochiline and 
Palpimanine were perhaps evolved in South-eastern Asia and 
spread thence in a westerly direction, the more specialised Palpi- 
manine reaching Kurope in the Oligocene and passing into Africa 
and thence to South America. The entire absence of Palpimaninze 
from North America and Australia, and the near relationship 
that obtains between the genera from South America and Tropical 
Africa, almost compels the belief that the former country received 
this element of its fauna from the latter. 
The Anyphenide are represented in the Oligocene beds of 
Europe and North America. At the present time, one genus 
only, Anyphena, occurs in the temperate area of the Northern 
hemisphere of the Old World; the same genus also occurs in 
North America; while the remainder of the genera, sixteen or so 
in number, extend into South America, principally along the 
Andean chain as far south as Tierra del Fuego. These facts 
suggest that the group had its origin in North America, perhaps 
in Eocene times, crossed thence into Asia and Europe before or 
during the Oligocene, and, when North and South America were 
Proc. Zoou. Soc.—1903, Vou. I. No. XXIV, 24 
