On the Classification of Scorpions. 303 
LII.—Notes on the Classification of Scorpions, followed by 
some Observations upon Synonymy, with Descriptions of 
new Genera and Species. By R. I. Pocock, of the British 
(Natural History) Museum. 
[Plates XIV. & XV. B.] 
Part I._—Notes on Classification. 
THE first part of the following paper is a brief summary of 
my views respecting the mutual relationships of the genera ot 
Scorpions. But since no special attention has been here 
devoted to the Buthide and Bothriuride, most of what is new 
is expressed in the rearrangement of the genera of the groups 
that Thorell ascribed to his two families Pandinoide and 
Vejovoide. 
The characters I have used are taken exclusively from the 
external structure *. With one one Paar all have been 
pointed out before or utilized, with a varying measure of 
success, by my predecessors, "Peters, Thorell, Simon, Lan- 
kester, and Karsch. The character that I believe to be new 
and, I hope, of considerable importance is the presence or 
absence of one of the spurs of the pair that is found upon the 
articular membrane connecting the foot or terminal segment 
of the legs with the segment that precedes it. These I call 
the pedal spurs. It is necessary to distinguish carefully 
between these spurs and the spines or thickened hairs which 
frequently project downwards over the foot-joint from the 
distal extremity of the segment to which the foot is articu- 
lated. In the Scorpionidx, as recognized by me, there is only 
one of these spurs, the anterior; in the Iuride, Bothriuride 
(with one exception), and the Buthide both are present, and 
they attain their maximum of development in the Buthide, 
where we find the anterior cne frequently double. 
Of course it is hardly expected that this character, more 
than any other, will prove invariable ; but it adds one more 
to the sum of characters upon which, as I have long suspected, 
the families or subfamilies of Scorpions must be based. Eispe- 
cially important has it been in my estimation in showing the 
relationship between such genera as Urodacus and Hemi- 
* I have consequently not mentioned the anatomical features connected 
with the innervation and structure of the lung-books described by Prof. 
- Lankester in 1885. It would be a highly interesting study for any one 
with the time to devote to it to see how far a classification based upon 
internal anatomy would agree with one such as that put forward here. 
2: 3 * 
