20 INTRODUCTION. 



A. zuhovsl-ii, is a local form of the common European Alpine- 

 A. hipxmctata, which passes iuto A. asiatica in the mountains of 

 Central Asia. Allied to Aneclmra is Allodalilia which has its 

 headquarters in the mountains of Northern India, whence it has 

 spread through Burma into the Malayan Archipelago ; thus of 

 the four known species, A. ahrimanes is prohably confined to the 

 Eastern Himalayas, A. viacrojjijfja and A. coriacea extend to the 

 uplands of Northern Burma, and A. scah-iuscula has reached 

 Java. Of the eleven known Indian species of Forjicxda, eight are 

 Himalayan ; as this genus is eminently Palsearctic, it is probably 

 from Northern India that it has gained a precarious footing in 

 the remoter parts of the Oriental Eegion. 



The occurrence of two species of Pseudisolabis in the mountains 

 of the north-west of India is carious, as this genus was hitherto 

 only known from a single species in New Zealand. It may be 

 that it is a very ancient geiuis. 



The hills of Northern India seem to be the headquarters of 

 some other genera, which have thence extended their distribution 

 into the heart of the Oriental Eegion. Thus Kosmetor is re- 

 presented by three species, the other two being Malayan ; the 

 same may be said of TimomeiiKs, which has however, an outlying 

 representative in the extreme" north-east of the Palsearctic 

 Eegion. The distribution of the genus Forci])ida is remarkable, 

 as it is a veil-marked group ; two species are known in the 

 Neotropical Eegion, and two in the Ethiopian, but eight are 

 purely Oriental, of which five are only found in India. One of 

 these, F. Iwida, is a South Indian form, but the other four are 

 characteristic of Northern India and Northern Burma ; perhaps 

 this district is the headquarters of the group, for the non-Indian 

 Oriental forms are rare, and less highly specialized. Another 

 M'idely-distributed genus well represented in India is DipJatys ;. 

 this is certainly a primitive and ancient group, with representatives 

 in all tropical regions except Austraha, so far as is known. Of 

 the two dozen described species, no less than twelve occur in 

 India and are probably peculiar. Well-marked genera which are 

 ronfined to India, so far as we know, are Lijximra, Eudohmiay 

 and the curious Solenosoma, all being specialized monotypic genera 

 only known from North India and Burma. Lipodes, of which 

 a unique defective specimen from Dikraugs is in the Calcutta 

 Museum, is probably also peculiar. 



The BrachyJahince are an apterous group m ith some distinctly 

 archaic features recalling the Tertiary earwigs of Florissant. 

 Probably they are the survivors of an ancient group, which would 

 account at once for their comparative scarcity and wide distribution 

 in all tropical regions. Of the seven known genera, three are re- 

 presented in India : Nannisolahis has two known species, both 

 peculiar ; Metisolahis has four, of which two are Indian and 

 two Ethiopian ; and Ctenisolabishas three, one Indian, one Ethiopian, 

 and one Neotropical. No one species of Brachylahince occurs in 

 any two regions. 



