358 NATURAL SCIENCE. May, 



(Scorpionidae) Scorpio, about half a dozen species, Senegambia and 

 the Congo to Abyssinia and Nyassa-land ; '■'■'■ Miisphoiins, two species, 

 Caffraria, Damara-land ; '■'■'• CEcopetrus, two species, Damara-land, 

 Mozambique ; ■■'Opisthophthalvius, man}^ species, Mozambique, Nama- 

 qua-land. Cape Colony ; (Ischnuridas) ■'Tschnurus, several species, from 

 Angola and Mozambique southwards ; ■■'OpistJiocentnis, four or five 

 species, Congo, Transvaal, and Cape Colony ; '-■•Chiromachus, one 

 species, Mozambique; (Buthidae) ■'-Uropiectes, several species, Nyassa- 

 land and Cape Colony ; '■^'•Leprcus, many species, southwards from the 

 Congo and Somali-land; Archisometrus, two species, Congo, Nyassa- 

 land ; ■■'Bahycurus, several species. Old Calabar and Angola to Masai- 

 land ; Parabuthns, several species, Abyssinia, Benguela, Cape Colony ; 

 Bnthus, a few species only, Senegambia and Abyssinia to Caflfraria. 



At the present time we unfortunately have no intimate know- 

 ledge of the Scorpions of Madagascar. Two peculiar genera of 

 Buthidae, however, namely Grosplms and Tityohtiihns, occur, and 

 two species ascribed to Babycunis have been recorded ; there is 

 also one peculiar species of OpistJiocentnis known. The last two are 

 African genera and the iirst two are essentially African in their 

 affinities. It is, however, highly interesting to note the apparent 

 absence from this continental island of almost all the large African 

 genera of Scorpionidae and Ischnuridae. The differences between the 

 genera of Buthida inhabiting Africa and Madagascar point to long 

 separation between the two areas ; while the absence from Madagascar 

 of the Scorpionidae seems to indicate that the latter made their way 

 into Africa after the separation had been effected. 



The Oriental Region offers some points of resemblance to the 

 African portion of the Ethiopian ; but on the whole the two faunas 

 are very distinct. The following genera are known : — (Scorpionidae) 

 Scorpio, several species, India, Cevlon, Java; ■■'Palmnnaiis, about four 

 species, Bengal to Borneo and the Philippines ; (Ischnuridae) 

 ^loinachus, one species, South India ; Hormurns, one or two species, 

 from Burma eastwards ; (luridae) -''Scorpiops, several species, North 

 India, Burma ; ■•'ChcBrilus, several species, Cashmere and Ceylon to 

 Borneo; (Bothriuridae) ''''-Tiinogenes, one species, Sumatra ; (Buthidae) 

 Bulhiis, one species, India ; Isometnis, two species, South India, 

 Assam; Archisometrus, several species, India, Ceylon, and Burma 

 eastwards ; ■■'Charmus [Heterocharmus), three species, Ceylon. The 

 region seems separable into two sub-regions, a western or Indian, 

 containing Ceylon and the greater part of India, and an eastern or 

 Indo-Malayan, extending from Cashmere along the Himalayas to 

 Burma, and thence southwards and eastwards to Borneo and the 

 Philippines. Characteristic of the Indian sub-region is the genus 

 Scorpio, which in the Indo-Malayan sub-region has only two representa- 

 tives, occurring in Sumatra and Java ; the single Indian species of 

 Buthus, too, does not appear to pass into Burma, while lomachiis and 

 Charmus are not known from the east side of the Bay of Bengal. In 



