38 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. in 



widespread in the East Indies, and has certainly been introduced into 

 the Antilles by shipping. 



Family Rhinocricidae 



Rhinocriciis leiicostigma Pocock 



Rhinocricus leucosiigma Pocock, 1894, p. 500; Loomis, 1934, p. 16. 



Six males and females were taken from Antrim at 1,000 ft. on 

 March 10, 1956. Although the material at hand is badly faded from 

 preservation, I suspect that actually two species are now masquer- 

 ading under the name leucosiigma. There is considerable variation in 

 size of adults, and the smaller specimens are not so definitely marked 

 as the larger. Typically the species is black with a middorsal white 

 spot on each segment and one such spot on each side surrounding the 

 ozopore. The small male examined has gonopods of a slightly different 

 form, but whether this condition reflects more than an individual vari- 

 ation cannot be determined at this time. The situation needs further 

 attention, particularly with respect to living colors and the examina- 

 tion of numerous male specimens of both forms. 



Loomis found specimens ranging in length from less than 30 mm. to 

 45 mm. in the vicinity of Roseau. The species is endemic to Dominica, 

 but it has a very similar counterpart in R. martiniquensis Chamberlin 

 of the nearby island of Martinique. 



Order Polydesmida 



Family Slrongylosomidae 



Genus Mestosoma Silvestri 



Mestosoma Silvestri, 1897, p. 3.— Kraus, 1956, p. 412. 

 Habrodesmus Attems, 1937, p. 174. 



A considerable number of generic names were proposed for South 

 American strongjdosomids by Silvestri near the end of the last century, 

 most of them unfortunately poorly characterized and based upon 

 equally unrecognizable species. Attems reduced the number to two 

 in his 1937 monograph, recognizing only Catharodesmus as an endemic 

 American genus and extending the African genus Habrodesmus to 

 include many of the Neotropical species. 



Recently, however, Dr. Kraus reviewed the matter and revived 

 most of SUvestri's names for various groups of species that now seem 

 to constitute well-marked genera. He likewise restricted Habrodesmus 

 to African species, thereby disposing of a zoogeographic anomaly. 

 Although Ivi-aus defined and listed all species of some genera, he gave 

 no diagnosis of Mestosoma, and listed only a few of the species that 

 seem to be referable to it, so that a good treatment of the genus is still 

 high on the list of desirable projects. 



