EAST AFEICAX DIPLOPODA OF THE SUBORDEE POLY- 

 DESMOIDEA, COLLECTED BY ME. WILLIAM ASTOB 

 CHANLEE. 



By O. F. Cook. 



The collection wliich is tlie occasion of this report is a small one, 

 but the forms included are very interesting, and after a comparison 

 with the types preserved in the Berlin Museum all seem to be new. 

 In attempting- to place the species generically, it has been found that 

 the East African genera are mostly distinct from those to which species 

 from that region have been referred by previous writers. The present 

 collection furnishes representatives of but three genera, of which com- 

 plete descriptions are here attempted. Kotices of other African genera 

 are included in the synopses, drawn partly from a considerable collec- 

 tion of African Polydesmoidea belonging to the Berlin Museum. This 

 has seemed desirable in order to better define and show the affinities of 

 the genera established on the specimens belonging to the United States 

 National Museum. 



The Polydesmoidea thus far known from East Tropical Africa are 

 comprehended in three families, one of which seems peculiar to that 

 region. East Africa is either strikingly deficient in family types, or very 

 careful collecting has not been done, as may be judged from the table 

 of African families here presented, of which six have been found in 

 West Africa and only three in East xVfrica. 



It is a noteworthy fact of distribution that no species of this suborder 

 is known to be common to the east and west coasts of Tropical Africa, 

 and what is more remarkable, no genus is common to the two sides of 

 the continent except in the cosmopolitan family Strongylosomatidie. 

 That future discoveries may modify these facts is of course probable, 

 for the number of African genera and species will doubtless be increased 

 indefinitely. The larger and more conspicuous forms, however, have 

 been collected quite extensively, and the personal opportunities of the 

 Avriter warrant him in the opinion that no s^iecies closely related to 

 those known from East Africa exist in Liberia, or indeed in the neigh- 

 boring regions, from Cape Verde down. 



The literature of the East African Polydesmoidea is not extensive, 

 and is much scattered. For convenience of reference, uniformly 



Proceedings of thu United States Natioual Museum, Vol. XVIII— No. 1042. 



81 

 Proc. N. M. 95 G 



