384 



NOTES ON GEOPHILIDiE COOK AND COLLINS. 



The characters of the mouth parts were put forward by Bergsoe and 

 Meinertas the priucipal means of separating genera, external characters 

 being largely disregarded in generic descriptions. The genera of pre- 

 vious writers, with the exception of Geophilus Leach, 3Iecistocephalus 

 Newport, and Eimantarium C. Koch, were ignored. This may appear 

 to have been a very summary method of disposing of them, but the 

 characters on which they were based were too unimportant to have 

 warranted their establishment in the lirst place, and any attempt at 

 adapting the old names to the new classification would have resulted 

 in wholesale confusion. Eecent European writers have adopted this 

 new classification, but as no characterization of the genera as at pres- 

 ent defined has appeared in the English language, we have thought 

 best to present a tabulation of the more salient characters of all the 

 now recognized genera, as an introduction to some notes on American 

 forms. 



Mecistocephalus . 



Geophilus 



Chietechelyne ... 



Scotophilus 



Dignathodon 



Stigmatogaster .. 



Himantariam 



Scolioplanes 



Bothriogaster 



Mesocanthus 



Orphnseus 



Orya 



Notiphilides 



Chomatobius 



Schendyla§ 



Pectiniunguia — 



Escaryus 



StylolaemusH 



Pecti- 

 nate la- 

 mellae. 



Den- 

 tate la- 

 mellae. 





 1 

 1 

 1 



1 

 Many. 

 Many. 



1 

 Many. 

 t5 

 4-5 

 7-8 

 4 

 Many. 

 1 

 1 

 1 



Many 



Parts 

 of la- 

 brum. 



Free 



Free 



(*) 



Free 



Free 



Free 



Free 



Free 



Free(?) ... 



Free 



Free 



Coalesced. 



Pleural 

 pores. 



Anal 

 pores. 



Free j 



Coalesced.! 

 Coalesced. 

 Free II | 



Many... 

 0-Many 

 Many... 

 1-Many 

 Many... 

 Many. ., 

 Many. ., 

 Many... 

 Many.. 

















 Many... 



2 



2 

 Many.. 



J'nts 

 of 



anal 

 legs. 



Claw- 

 of 

 anal 



feet. 



♦With regard to this genus, Meinert says (Nat. Tiddskr., vii, 44): "Labrum free, entire, sinuate, 

 armed with long hairs." Latzel (op. cit, 201) expressly contradicts this statement, declaring that a 

 labrum is not distinguishable, and that Meinert's labral hairs are on the cephalic lamina ; his generic 

 characterization is "Labrum evanidum." 



t We tabulate them as pectinate lamellae, out of deference to Meinert's statement (op. cit., 34). In 

 his diagram they appear to be very similar in structure and shape to the dentate lamellae of Himan- 

 tarium and its allied genera; but they do not bear any apparent resemblance to what have been called 

 pectinate laraellse in any other genus. 



J In these genera the soculled ' ' pleuraj of the last segment " are not enlarged or provided with pores, 

 and do not apparently differ from the joints of the legs. In such cases, legs with five or six joints are 

 said to be, respectively, pseudo six- or seven-jointed. 



§ In Schendyla eximia Meinert the labrum is free in the middle, and the anal legs flve-jointed. 



II Or slightly coalesced at the lateral angles. 



^The description of Stylolcemus Karsch (Troschel, Archiv. f. Naturgesch. xlvii, 9, und Taf. 1, fis. 

 3, a, 6) is so meager as not to give even the characters covered in the tabulation. From the diagram 

 it would appear that the prehensorial feet are more different from those of other Oeophilidce than thu 

 latter are from those of the other families of Chilopoda, and the configuration of the posterior seg- 

 meats is not less remarkable. 



