Proceedings of 

 the United States 

 National Museum 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION • WASHINGTON, D.C. 



Volume 111 1960 Number 3123 



A FOURTH CONTRIBUTION TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF NEO- 

 TROPICAL PLATYRHACID MILLIPEDS (DIPLOPODA : 

 FOLYDESMIDA) 



By Richard L. Hoffman * 



Introduction 



Because of the striking appearance and the great size of many 

 species, milhpeds of the family Platyrhacidae have long attracted 

 the attention of diplopodologists. Unfortunately, although 43 

 generic and about 250 specific names have been proposed in the 

 family, published information on the group has so far been largely 

 of a miscellaneous descriptive nature. Only Carl Attems has 

 attempted to present an account of all the known species (1938), 

 but despite its reference value, his treatment is at best a compilation 

 and in no sense qualifies as a careful systematic study. 



A large quantity of material is now available in various collections, 

 but unfortunately these collections are scattered widely m Europe 

 and North America. A thorough revision of the family remains to 

 be undertaken by someone having the opportunity for extensive and 

 leisurely travel. In the meantime, it is possible to clear up a number 

 of isolated matters relating to nomenclature and systematics. I feel 

 that the publication of three earlier papers (1953a-b, 1956) — all 



• Department of Biology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, Va. 



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