218 R. I. POCOCK [march 



portions of Asia, from Ceylon and China to the Fiji Islands, and in the 

 southern states of North America, Central America, the West Indies, 

 and the tropical parts of South America. 



The first sub-family (Thelyphonini) contains the following genera : — 

 Thelyphonus, composed of a large number of species, and occurring in 

 Ceylon and South India, Burma, South Siam, and the Philippine 

 Islands ; thence over the whole of the Indo-Malayan and the Austro- 

 Malayan Islands to Fiji and the New Hebrides, just touching Cape 

 York, but not extending further into Australia. Very closely allied 

 are the genera Abalius and Tetrabalius, the former with representative 

 species in New Guinea, New Britain, and Samoa, the latter occurring 

 in Borneo and the Moluccas. Mimoscorpius, another allied form, con- 

 tains a single species recorded from the Philippines. To the north of 

 the area occupied by Thelyphonus occur two genera : Uroproctus, 

 peculiar to Assam and the eastern parts of Bengal, and Typopeltis, 

 which extends from Hong Kong and Formosa into Japan, and a little 

 to the north of the 40 th parallel of North latitude in Amurland. In 

 America the sub-family is represented by the single genera Mastigo- 

 proctus, which has representatives in Arizona, Texas, Florida, Central 

 America, Hayti, Martinique, and in Brazil, as far at all events to the 

 south as Matto Grosso. The second sub-family (Hypoctonini) contains 

 only three genera : Labochirus confined to Ceylon and South India ; 

 Hypoctonus occurring in Silhet, Burma, and Borneo ; and Thelyp>honellus, 

 which has been met with in Guiana and on the Amazons. 



This family shows but little structural differentiation. It is con- 

 sequently difficult to formulate any definite conclusions respecting the 

 geographical regions or sub-regions that may be recognised, on account 

 of the close relationship that obtains between the genera that are found 

 in the eastern and western hemispheres, the differences between them 

 being no greater than those between the species of China and Assam, 

 or Borneo and Java. 



For the area in South-Eastern Asia to which these animals are 

 restricted, the term Oriental may be retained, although it is by no means 

 identical with the region of that name defined by Wallace, inasmuch as 

 it embraces part of his Manchurian sub-region of the Palaearctic, as well 

 as the whole of the Austro-Malayan, and part of the Polynesian sub- 

 region of the Australian Eegion. 



The sub-regions of this area are doubtful both in number and 

 extent. The area, however, extending from Corea to Hong-Kong and 

 characterised by the presence of Typopeltis and the absence of the more 

 southern types may be recognised as the Manchurian ; and if we 

 eliminate as the Assamese the area to which Uroproctus is restricted, 

 and as the Ceylonese or Malabar, the part of South India and Ceylon 

 where Labochirus is alone found, the rest of the region will correspond 

 very closely to the Malayo-Papuan area so well characterised, as will 

 be explained, by one of the families of Amblypygous Pedipalpi. 



