208 
ANNALS NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 
PHOLCID.E. 
# 
4. Spermophora meridionalis Hentz, Am. Jour. Sci., vol. xli, p. 116. 1S41. 
Plate XXI, Fig. 5. 
During the summer of 190S a number of males and females were collected 
in our home at Short Hills, N. J. For a figure of the comb-hair of the 
fourth tarsus in this species see Petrunkeviteh, Ann. Entom. Soc. Amer., 
vol. ii. plate iv, fig. 12. This comb is homologous with the comb of the 
Theridiidse. Its presence on the fourth tarsus is a character common to 
both families. It always occupies the middle line on the hyposynaxial 
surface, but in the Theridiidse the combhair is long, heavy, almost bristle- 
like, while in the Pholcidse it may be recognized only under high magnify¬ 
ing power. 
The male palpus of Spermophora meridionalis has never been figured, 
hence I give a figure of it here. 
THERIDIIDSE. 
5. Latrodectus mactans Fabrieius (sub Aranea), Entom. Syst., vol. ii, p. 
410. 1775. 
Dahl has made the attempt to divide this species into two species, the 
one of which he calls mactans Fabrieius and the other insularis Dahl with 
two subspecies, insularis insularis from St. Thomas and insular is lunulifer 
from Hayti. Such division is entirely unwarranted. I have specimens in 
my collection from the United States, Jamaica, Brazil and Patagonia, 
and I do not find any characters sufficient for the separation of this well 
known species into either more species or subspecies. The differences are of 
minor value, not more than may be attributed to the influence of local con¬ 
ditions. The specimens from Jamaica and from many localities of Mexico 
are in no way different from those found in the United States. The speci¬ 
mens from Patagonia have a very marked red band in the posterior third of 
the abdomen; but the palpus and the epigynum are in every detail the same 
as in the other specimens. On my recent trip through southern Mexico 
I was very much surprised to find that in the plains around San Geronimo, 
on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Latrodectus mactans is much more brilliantly 
colored than the specimens which I collected in the tropical forests of the 
same Isthmus. The markings on the abdomen of the mature female are the 
same as in young spiders of other localities, but the red stripes are so heavy 
