On Scorpions dsc. from the Solomon Islands. 457 



Blarina meridensis, sp. n. 



Size comparatively large, skull-length greater than in any 

 member of the subgenus Gryptotis except B. magna, Men*. 

 Colour darker, more sooty and less brown than in B. Thomasi, 

 Merr., tlie only other South-American species. Tail much 

 longer than in that species. Internal cusps to unicuspids 

 indistinct, not definitely at the postero-internal angle of the 

 tooth as in B. Thomasi. Back of large upper premolar not 

 deeply excavated. 



Dimensions of the type (measured in skin) : — 



Head and body 79 millim. ; tail 37; hind foot, without 

 claws 14, with claws 15*3. 



Skull : greatest length, including incisors, 23' 7 ; greatest 

 breadth 11; tip of incisors to chief cusp of p.* 5'2. 



Hah. Merida, alt. 2165 m. Coll. S. Briceno. 



Type-. B. M. no. 98.5. 15.5. 



Dr. Merriam has shown that the members of this genus, 

 like as they are in colour and general appearance, can be 

 readily divided into species by their size, proportions, and the 

 shapes of their premolars. In these respects none of the 

 species in Dr. Merriam's monograph at all agree with B. meri- 

 densis. Its only geographical ally, B. Thomasi, from Bogota, 

 is readily distinguishable by its smaller size and shorter tail. 



LXXI. — Scorpions, Pedipalpi, and Spiders from the Solomon 

 Islands. By B,. I. POCOCK, of the British Museum of 

 Natural History. 



[Plate XIX.] 



Part of the material contained in the British Museum upon 

 which this small contribution to the arachnology of the 

 Solomon Islands is based was purchased from Mr. C. M. 

 Woodford in 1887. A second instalment was procured by 

 the officers of H.M.S. ' Penguin ' (Commander A. J. Balfour 

 commanding), and was presented to the Trustees in 1894 

 and 1895 by the Lords of the Admiralty. 



In Thorell's tables of distribution of spiders occurring 

 in the Austro-Malayan area (published in 1881 in vol. xvii. 

 of the Ann. Mus. Genova) only one species of the order 

 is recorded from the Solomon Islands. This is Argiope 

 hougainvilla of Walckenaer. Walckenaer, however, mentions 

 two more species, namely Ctenus marginatus and Nephila 

 vitiensis, as doubtfully coming from this locality, and in the 



