418 E. I. POCOCK. 



peculiar oi* primitive in the way of centipede-life and are 

 wholly given over to the occupation of widely distributed 

 and well-known forms. The collection in question contained 

 a couple of centipedes representing a species which proves to 

 be comparable in interest from a morphological standpoint to 

 either of its compatriots, C e r a t o d u s or r n i t h o r h y n c h u s, 

 inasmuch as it unmistakably represents an archaic type, 

 which has survived in this isolated corner of the world — a 

 type which possesses the two-fold interest of exhibiting 

 certain unique structural peculiarities of its own, coupled 

 with others that serve to link together three of the best- 

 known and most diversified sections of the class; and also 

 of showing the true, but previously unknown and unsus- 

 pected, nature of the connection between the metamerism of 

 the Scolopendromorpha and that of the Lithobiomorpha. 



This new centipede is the subject-matter of the following 

 essay. The account of it may be conveniently divided into 

 four headings: — (1) A description of the external structural 

 features of the animal ; (2) a comparison between it and the 

 other existing orders; (8) its significance in testifying to the 

 transformation of the Scolopendroid into the Lithobioid 

 type; (4) the classification of the Chilopoda. 



Part I. — Description of the G-enus and Species. 



Fam. Craterostigmidae. 

 Gen. — Oraterostigmus, nov. 



The cephalite or head shield (PL 23, figs. 1, 3, 8) is 

 longer than wide, leaving the toxicognaths largely uncovered 

 on the dorsal side, as in some genera of Geophilomorpha (i.e. 

 Mecistocephalus) ; its frontal sulcus is distinct, and its 

 prseantennal area sharply recurved to form a long subfrontal 

 area, as in other pleurostigmous Chilopods. The eyes are 

 represented by a single pair of ocelli, as in the Lithobio- 

 morphous genera H en i cops and Germ at obi us. The an- 

 tennae are basally approximated, and project forwards fron) 



