(i.) The Paratropidinae include only two American species, Paratropis scrupea from the Amazon, and Anisaspis bacillifera from St. Vincent. They have thick, rugose integuments, and the internal angle of the coxa of the pedipalp is produced. The labium is fused with the sternum, which is very broad. Nothing is known of their habits, but as they do not possess a “rastellus” (see p. [320]) they are probably not burrowing spiders.
(ii.) The Actinopodinae comprise three genera, Stasinopus represented by a single South African species, S. caffrus; Eriodon, of which about ten species inhabit Australia; and Actinopus, of which about ten species are found in Central and South America. They have the coxae of the pedipalps very short and broad, and somewhat produced at the internal angle. The eyes are not in the usual compact group, but are somewhat extended across the caput. Actinopus burrows a deep cylindrical hole lined with silk, and furnished with a round, bevelled trap-door.
(iii.) The sub-family Miginae is established for the reception of three genera, Moggridgea (South Africa), Migas (Australia and South-West Africa), and Myrtale, whose single species, M. perroti, inhabits Madagascar. They are chiefly characterised by their very short and downwardly-directed chelicerae. They are not terricolous, but inhabit trees, either boring holes in the bark, or constructing a sort of silken retreat fortified by particles of wood.
(iv.) The Ctenizinae form a large group, including some forty genera. All the “Trap-door” Spiders of the Continent fall under this sub-family, which, moreover, has representatives in all the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. A rastellus is always present, and the eyes form a compact group on an eminence. The coxae of the pedipalps are longer than in the groups previously mentioned, and there is no production of the internal angle. The labium is generally free.
The commonest European genus is Nemesia, of which about thirty species inhabit the Mediterranean region. The cephalothorax is rather flat, and the central fovea is recurved (◠). The burrow is sometimes simple and sometimes branched, and the trap-door may be either thin, or thick with bevelled edges.
Allied genera are Hermacha and Rachias in South America, Spiroctenus in South Africa, Genysa in Madagascar, Scalidognathus in Ceylon, and Arbanitis in New Zealand. The genus Cteniza (fovea procurved ◡) possesses only a single species (C. sauvagei), found in South-East France and Italy.
Pachylomerus is a widely-distributed genus, being represented in North and South America, Japan, and North Africa. The tibiae of the third pair of legs are marked above by a deep impression near the base. A closely allied genus, Conothele. inhabits Southern Asia and New Guinea.
The widely-distributed genus Acanthodon, which has representatives in all the sub-tropical countries of the world, together with the South American genera Idiops and Pseudidiops, and the Indian genus Heligmonerus, present a peculiar arrangement of the eyes, one pair being situated close together in the middle of the front of the caput, while the remaining six form a more or less compact group some distance behind them.
Among the many other genera of the Ctenizinae may be mentioned Cyrtauchenius, of which many species inhabit North-West Africa, and its close ally Amblyocarenum, represented on both shores of the Mediterranean, and in North and South America. They differ from Cteniza chiefly in the possession of strong scopulae on the tarsi and metatarsi of the first pair of legs, and in the double row of teeth with which the tarsal claws are furnished. Their burrows are often surmounted by a sort of turret raised above the level of the ground.
(v.) The Barychelinae are burrowing forms which resemble Nemesia, but have only two tarsal claws. Leptopelma is the only European genus, and has close affinities with certain South American genera (Psalistops, Euthycoelus, etc.). Pisenor inhabits tropical Africa, and Diplothele, unique in possessing only two spinning mammillae, is an inhabitant of India.