4 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 109 



Fundamental characters: All members of this genus are broad 

 with wide carinae or paranota as indicated by Chamberlin. This 

 body form alone is enough to identify a specimen from southeastern 

 United States as belonging to the group of genera of which Brachoria 

 is a member. Other characters are needed, however, to separate 

 Brachoria from closely related genera such as Apheloria and Sigmoria. 



The original drawing of the male gonopods of the type species, 

 Brachoria initialis, indicated that the telopodite portion of the gonopod 

 forms an arc similar to that in related genera. There was one rather 

 striking distinctive feature, however. This was the presence of a 

 joint or cingulum (new term, from the Latin "cingulum," a girdle) in 

 the telopodite, dividing it into a proximal setose portion and a distal 

 glabrous portion. The presence of this cingulum has been used by all 

 later workers as a distinctive generic character of Brachoria. 



The later-described genera Tucoria Chamberlin and Anfractogon 

 Hoffman also had a cingidum and were respectively distinguished 

 from Brachoria by the greater bulk of the gonopods and the complexity 

 of the terminal portion of the telopodite of the gonopods. These 

 characters are shown below to be ineffective as distinguishing charac- 

 ters on the generic level. The reduction of the two names Tucoria, 

 and Anfractogon to synonjTiis of Brachoria allows use of the cingulum 

 as the single most important diagnostic character of the genus. 



No other taxonomic character has yet been found which will 

 effectivel}^ distinguish Brachoria from other closely related genera. 

 One character is sometimes useful in this regard, however. This is 

 the shape -of the paranota, which in many species of Brachoria are 

 gently rounded forward at the caudolateral corners. Some species, 

 however, have the caudolateral corners of the paranota produced 

 caudad. All known species of the related genera Apheloria and Sig- 

 moria show this caudad projection of the paranota to at least a small 

 extent. Although it is possible to distinguish species with rounded 

 paranota as belonging to the genus Brachoria without resort to the 

 male gonopods, species \vith the caudolateral corners of the paranota 

 produced caudad may or may not belong to this genus. For purposes 

 of comparisons, the ninth segment is used in describing this feature. 

 At mid-body level, variations in this character are very slight. Vari- 

 ations in the shapes of the paranota of the last three or four segments 

 are very difficult to compare and are of little taxonomic value. 



The paranotal swellings are usually weakly developed in species of 

 Brachoria but it is difficult to use this character accuratel}-^ as the 

 differences are very slight. 



It is indeed unfortunate that so far no good character other than 

 the structure of the male gonopods has been found to be diagnostic 

 of the genus. The c3^phopods are apparently the same for all species. 

 This, of course, leaves the identification of females a very difficult, if 



