412 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [November, 1914. 



exception of the Ischnocoleae, which occur all round the 

 world, these six groups are confined to Africa and America. 



Five of the eleven groups of Aviculariinae are found in the 

 Oriental Region. Three of these— the Ischnocoleae, Thrigmo- 

 poeeae, and Poecilotherieae— are confined to the Indian Penin- 

 sula and Ceylon , with the exception of one or two species of 

 Ischnocoleae. The Ornithoctoneae extend, according to Pocock 

 (1903, p. 354), from Burma to the Moluccas; and the Seleno- 

 cosmieae from Ceylon to Australia. 



With the exception of the Poecilotherieae, which live in 

 trees and in the thatch of houses, all these spiders appear to 

 live on the ground. The Indian Ischnocoleae live under stones 

 and logs of wood, and are so closelv related to the Thrigmo- 

 poeeae (see three following paragraphs) that, in the absence of 

 any contrary information, the same may be assumed for them. 

 At least one species— Cyriopagus minax l — of Ornithoctoneae 

 lives m silk-lined burrows in the ground. Chilobrachys is known 

 to Uveon the ground in burrows or in natural crevices, and 

 probably this is equally true of other Selenocosmieae . The rela- 

 tion of the Poecilotherieae to the other groups, though somewhat 

 uncertain, is not without interest and will be discussed later. 



____ -__-- -A ___-___. ______ II __________ I ___ ^ V _■_ ___. 





with 



does 



therefore be left out of account where the results of competi- 

 tion among the others are being dealt with. 



Of all the Oriental Aviculariinae, the Ischnocoleae, which 

 lack the stimulating organ developed in the other groups, are 

 clearly the least specialized, as has already been recognized 

 by Pocock 2 (1903, p . 354). The Indian species of this group 



torm a series leading from the smaller forms of the senus Plesio- 

 phnctus 



sternum 



and the first legs of the male have a tibial apophysis— to the 

 larger and stouter forms of the genus Phlogiodes— in which the 

 posterior sigilla are large and submedian, the legs are less 

 extensively armed, and there are no tibial apophyses on the 

 nrst legs of the male. 



Three points in this series have been regarded as generic 

 limits, but the series is so complete that I have found it by no 

 means easy to determine into which genus some of the new 

 species m the Indian Museum collection should go. 8 Species of 

 tne genus Phlogiodes, moreover, resemble the Thrigmopoeeae 



- TW 6 ^ ing the & eneric na «ie of this spider see Gravely, 1915 



J^ocock s nomenolatnp« rtift^c t ,u_x _j._x._i _. c.: 



adopted 



as Av.onl_-;.„ o- " ,°F 0tti "> °i me iscnnocoleae ot the present paper 



family ^S^ 8 SUbfamil >' Aviculariinae corresponds to Pocock's 



• For descriptions of these new species see Gravely, 1915. 



