Annals of the Transvaal Museum 
109 
should be added that Mr Tucker has evidently recognized these facts, for in 
writing under the heading “Systematic value of sternal sigilla” he says of 
these genera: “In specimens of both genera available for examination great 
similarity exists, and the posterior sternal sigilla show less divergence than in 
other genera discussed.” 
It is possible that the species I have hitherto grouped together into the 
large genera Acanthodon, Spiroctenus, and Pelmatorycter, may be capable 
of segregation into natural groups, for which the establishment of generic or 
subgeneric names will be merely a matter for individual opinion : but I doubt 
if such division can be made solely on female characters. The secondary 
sexual characters of adult males may furnish a more solid basis for such 
subdivision. Some of the species included by Mr Tucker in the genus 
Ancylotrypa have a striking character in the horny processes of the male 
palps, but other species of that “genus” are completely devoid of such pro- 
cesses. As pointed out in my accompanying paper, characters of considerable 
constancy throughout whole groups of species are found in the tibial tubercles 
of the first leg of male Acanthodons. Still, as an index of affinity, secondary 
sexual characters are apt to prove erratic, and for this reason I regard them 
for the most part as of subgeneric value only. 
p. 1 12. Mr Tucker, after remarking that a number of female specimens 
from Stellenbosch strongly resemble Hermacha nigra and are apparently 
closely allied to it, adds: “it is no doubt a young example of this species 
which was described by Simon as Damarchodes purcelli ” and then says 
“Damarchodes is considered by Purcell to be synonymous with Hermacha: 
Hewitt however thinks it allied to Pelmatorycter.” What I actually wrote 
was : “ Damarchodes is founded on a Stellenbosch species which is not known 
to me: many of its characters, according to the description, would seem to 
ally it with Pelmatorycter yet it must differ therefrom, apparently, in that 
the claws of the anterior tarsi are armed with a single series of teeth and the 
cephalothorax is crebre sericeo-pubescens.” 
p. 1 19. In dealing with the problematical genus Thelechoris, Mr Tucker 
places together specimens from Durban, Grahamstown and Cookhouse under 
the name of Thelechoris australis Purcell, the type of which came from 
Dunbrody: now the Durban specimens, as pointed out by me some years ago 
{Annals Durban Mus. vol. 1. p. 132), are identical with the species Evagrus 
caffer Pocock, and a new generic name may have to be created for the species. 
p. 126. In a somewhat lengthy historical account of the vicissitudes of the 
names Idiops and Acanthodon, Mr Tucker complains that I still make use of 
the latter name. He thinks it should now be abandoned. 
It is true that M. Simon in the appendix to his great work has placed 
the two names as synonymous because the ocular characters have no generic 
