226 Mr. R. I. Pocock on new Geophilidte. 



GeopJiilus alacevj sp. n. (PI. XII. figs. 11, 11 a.) 



Colour ocliraceous, with pale castaneous head and maxilli- 

 pedes. 



Body moderately robust and not very markedly attenuate 

 towards the posterior end ; very smooth. 



Head longer than wide, wider in front than behind, with 

 lightly convex sides and nearly straiglit anterior and posterior 

 margins, indistinctly and sparsely punctured, and sparsely 

 hairy ; frontal plate indistinctly defined. 



Antennce of moderate length, hairy, the segments narrowed 

 at the base, the apical segment nearly twice the length of the 

 penultimate. 



Prebasal pJate invisible ; hasal iiilate very small, about a 

 quarter of the length of the head, narrower than the first 

 tergite, with its sides strongly converging, sparsely and indis- 

 tinctly punctured and sparsely hairy. 



Maxillary coxcb subquadrate, the pleurae, viewed from 

 below, being very narrow, without chitinous lines, the ante- 

 rior margin bearing two conspicuous teeth ; sparsely punc- 

 tured and hairy ; the feet long, considerably overlapping the 

 head-plate laterally and anteriorly, the joint of the claw being 

 about on a level with the anterior border of the head ; the 

 claw armed basally with a distinct tooth, the femur with a 

 much smaller blunt tooth. 



Tergites sparsely hairy, those in the middle of the body 

 being obsoletely bisulcate. 



Tracheal sclerites in contact with the tergites and smaller 

 than the prescutal pleural sclerites. 



Sternites without distinct porous area, except those at the 

 anterior end of the body, marked with a median longitudinal 

 groove. 



Anal somite. — Tergite not quite covering the pleursB, 

 smooth, narrowed behind ; pleurae moderately inflated, smooth 

 above, furnished beneath with seven large pores, of which 

 the two posterior are the largest ; sternite narrow, longer than 

 wide, its sides posteriorly converging ; prosternal pieces 

 small ; legs a little longer than those of the preceding somite, 

 slender, attenuate, the segments increasing in length from 

 base to apex, armed with a long claw ; anal pores con- 

 spicuous. 



Number of pairs of legs 33 in female. 

 Length 21 millim. 



A single specimen from the Straits of Magellan collected 

 by the officers of H.M.S. 'Alert.' 



This species is remarkable for its small number of legs, the 



