New and Little Knrnni Soutli African SoUfuga.. 401 



GEN. SOLPUGA, Licht., 

 1796, Lichtenstein, Cat. rerum nat., iii., p. 216. 



Characters. Tarsus of II. and III. leg four-jointed, of IV. leg 

 seven-jointed, the sub-ungual appendages small and not strongly 

 divaricating. Tarsus of I. leg without claws. Metatarsus of palps 

 appearing thick in the proximal half but attenuated in the distal 

 half , especially when viewed from the side (Fig. 19), the tarsus again 

 thickened and immovably fused with the metatarsus ; under side of 

 the latter with a large number of irregularly arranged bristles, made 

 up of short truncated and long pointed ones (in the lineata group 

 these bristles, especially the longer ones, are minutely bifid at the 

 apex). Basal enlargement of flagellum flat on the inner side, which 

 is furnished with a narrow posterior border separated by a curved 

 groove from the rest of the surface (Figs. 16, 17, &c.), the outer face 

 turgid in the upper part but immovably fixed in the lower part to the 

 inner upper edge of the mandible at the base of the terminal fang ; 

 the basal enlargement produced anteriorly into the procurrent 

 portion of the shaft, which is also firmly attached to the upper 

 surface of the terminal fang. Ocular tubercle with more than two 

 anterior setae. Upper lobe of rostrum evenly pointed, never deflexed 

 at the apex. 



Young. Five very young specimens (?) of .S'. rincta, Koch, from 

 Signal Hill, Cape Town, measuring between 8 and 9 mm. in length, 

 and provided with 5 pairs of malleoli, had the tarsus of the II. and 

 III. legs one-jointed, and that of the IV. leg two-jointed. (In the 

 next smallest specimens, 15 mm. long, these tarsi were jointed as 

 in the adult.) Besides these the Museum possesses several other 

 specimens from various parts of the Colony, most, if not all, of 

 which are perhaps the young of Solpuga, although the species cannot 

 be determined. In all of these the tarsi are segmented as in the 

 younger specimens of S. mncta. In the smallest example, measuring 

 8i mm., there are only 3 pairs of malleoli, but in all the others, the 

 largest of which measures 13| mm., there are 5 pairs. The meta- 

 tarsus of the palp, moreover, resembles that of Ceroma in not being 

 attenuated distally, although this attenuation was observed in all 

 immature specimens of Solpuga which showed the normal number of 

 tarsal segments. The ocular bristles are also much fewer in 

 number, the anterior side of the tubercle generally possessing a 

 large anterior pair, a little behind which a second much smaller pair 

 occurs. 



Nearly all the species known to me may be arranged in three 



