and Palseophouus caledonlcus. G75 



tlie finger beins^ preserved only as an imprint ; it is liavd to 

 decide, for all these structures have been exposed by the 

 mechanical and chetnical removal of matrix, and are therefore 

 not so clear as could be wished. The outer margin of the 

 fixed finger lias a slight concave curvature. The ditstance 

 between the inner edges of the two fingers at their proximal 

 ends is about 2 mm., at their distal ends 6*5 mm. The 

 separation of the fingers at the base, the presence of a finger- 

 lobe, and the considerable width of the hand are characters 

 which, when taken together, sug2:est tliat this cliela belonged 

 to a male. The relations of the fingers and of the keels seem 

 to indicate that it was the chela of the right side. 



This description has been given in some detail, partlj 

 because it was high time for tlie holotype of a genotype to 

 receive a description of some sort, partly because Mr. Pocock 

 in his classification lays j^reat stress on the characters of the 

 chela, and in this particular instance says '^ the species may 

 be distinguished at once from all other Carboniferous Scorpions 

 in which the chela is known by the shape and proportions of 

 the segments of this appendage." Even if Mr. Pocock had 

 examined the specimen he could not have seen the shape and 

 proportions of the segments, because, like the Spanish fleet, 

 they were not yet in sight. 



Since, moreover, Mr. Pocock admits the possibility of the 

 paratypes — the tails from Skegby (I. 994 />) and Sandwell 

 Park (I. 5432) — beh nging to a diff'erent species or even 

 genus, it must be on the characters of the cliela alone that he 

 founds his genus Palceomachus. Those characters he gives 

 as: " Hand broad and oval, its width greatly exceeding tliat 

 of the biachium, its length exceeding that of the finders, 

 which are short and in contact when closed, the length of the 

 immovable digit about equal to the width of the hand." 

 This must now be altered as follows: — Hand broad, sub- 

 quadrate, twice as wide as brachium, shorter than fingers, 

 which are long and slender [and may or may not have been 

 in contact when closed], the movable finger being the longer 

 and one-quarter as long again as the hand. 



It may be added that the toothed inner margin of the 

 fingers shown in the published figures is just as imaginary as 

 the rest of the outline. AVhether the margins bore teeth or 

 no I cannot learn from the specimen, but I incline to think 

 that the outline must have been very much like that of the 

 fingers in Mr. Pocock's figure of Anthracoscorpio dunlopi 

 {op. cit. p. 22). 



It might be inferred from the previously published figures 

 that the fossil was meant to be represented as having the 

 movable finger on the inner or flexor side of the chela, thus 



