86 AXXALS XE^Y YORK ACADEMY OF SCIEXCES 



"les lies de I'Atlantiquo." although there is no reason for not expecting 

 it in the West Indies. 



Lithyphantes is a cosmoj)olitan genus which has heen recorded on the 

 American mainland from Canada to Patagonia, but not from the An- 

 tilles. We took sepiemmacuJaius Keyserling in Cuba in a mangrove 

 swamp near Cabanas and in a flower garden at Baiios San Yincente in 

 the mountains. The localities given in the original description are stated 

 as follows : ^'Herr Marx fing dieses Thier im Juli bei Denver in Colum- 

 bia und im December bei Enterprise in Florida.*' Doubtless Denver, 

 Colorado, was intended. It is also recorded from Curacao. 



Mysmena is known from France, northern Africa. Ceylon. Philippines 

 and United States (two species, both in Florida, one of them being 

 known also from the District of Columbia). We got several young speci- 

 mens of the genus from the fallen leaves at the base of the cliffs at Baiios 

 San Yincente. near A'^iiiales. Cuba. 



Theridionexus cavernicolus Petrunkevitch is the only species in its 

 genus and is known only from the Peru Cave in Jamaica. Although he 

 places this creature among the Theridiidse. Petrunkevitch says : ''Its gen- 

 eral appearance, the long front legs and the globose abdomen, and most 

 of all the presence of a well developed tarsal comb, speak for its close re- 

 lation to the family Theridiid^e. On the other hand, the structure of the 

 mandibles, the shape of the cephalothorax, and especially the presence of 

 a tibial apophysis in the male palpus, are characters which are found only 

 in the Argiopid^. It is. therefore, impossible to place the genus Theri- 

 dionexus with sufficient reason in either of these families : it forms a new, 

 intermediate group.'* From the standpoint of phylogeny. perhaps one 

 might say it belongs to an old intermediate groui^. and if this be true its 

 discovery. in a cave in the mountains of Jamaica has an added interest. 



L1XYPHIID.5: 



The distribution in America of this family is interesting. For the 

 most part it is northern, but it has a number of representatives in south- 

 ern South America and very few between. In addition to certain genera 

 found only in Greenland or the extreme northern pait of the hemisphere 

 and others found only in southern Patagonia or Tien a del Fuego, there 

 are otliers such as (Tonotium and Gongi/Udiellum which are found at both 

 extremes but box between. This discontinuous distribution may be due 

 to faulty taxonomy or there may be natural causes for it. It is, however, 

 not unknown in other organisms or even in other groups of spiders. This 

 family is sometimes considered to be a subfamily of Argiopids. 



