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Show 1902.] MR. H. R. HOGG OX AUSTRALASIAN SPIDERS. 415 tlieir smaller fellows could not follow. In some instances both cephalothorax and abdomen have likewise become abnormally flattened, accompanied in the more pronounced forms such as Delena by a lateral extension of the eyes. L. Koch originally included in this group the Uemiclceince, in consequence of a similar and even more exaggerated flattening of the whole body clearly arising from the same habits; but as they are an offshoot of another family, the Drassidae, they have been rightly separated by M. Simon, and I do not include them in the present paper. The Australasian genera may be grouped as follows:- A. Median eyes of the front row distinctly smaller than the laterals, being about three-fifths the diameter of the latter; the area of the four median eyes longer than broad. The highest part of the cephalothorax in the posterior one-third, thence sloping anteriorly; generally no flagellum in the male palp, or, if present, no spiral drum. a 1. Rear row of eyes recurved; laterals protuberant ................. H e t e r o :p o d e .e . a" Rear row of eyes straight or procurved; lateral eyes sessile ............................................................................................................. P a i t s t e ^:. B. Median eyes of the front row larger than, equal to, or only slightly smaller (about one-fifth of diameter) than laterals of same. The median-eye square not longer than broad (except in Pediana). The stylus of the male palp produced into a flagellum, coiled round a supporting drum, which is spirally grooved for its reception. Cephalothorax either quite flat above or highest in front half, thence sloping posteriorly ................................................................................................ D e l e n e .s:. Group H e t e r o p o d e j e . The members of this group found in Australia at the present time, although probably more like the original type, from which the large bulk of the laterigrade spiders now inhabiting the continent must have been specialized, would seem to be of comparatively recent importation. The species are all either to be found themselves or have near relatives in the islands to the North and East. Entering evidently from Cape York, they are most numerous along the coast of Queensland and New South Wales, while a few isolated specimens have been recorded as far as the centre of Victoria, from Adelaide, and from Central Australia. They show scant signs of compression, and the distance between the two rows of eyes is greater than in the more widely-spread indigenous types, while they are without the spiral conductor and generally without any elongated stylus in the male palp. The genera may be distinguished as follows:- A . Rear row of eyes only slightly recurved; median pair of same nearly as far apart as they are distant from the . j ......................... Heteropoda Latr. 0 1 0 S ............. ...... ......... ................... . r B Rear row of eyes strongly recurved. Rear middle eyes about four times as far from the side eyes as from one T tt 1. another (tee. L. Koch) ................................. Pandercetes L. Koch. |