NO. 1170. THE FAMILY GOMPHODESMID.E— COOK. 703 



samhicus, tlie type of the genus Aidodcsmiis, to which it was previously 

 referred, the present species being- without doubt more similar to A^ilo- 

 desmus than to Astrodesmus in this respect. It can hardly be said, on 

 the other hand, that it is more similar to Aulodesmus than that genus 

 is to Astrodesmus, and the different habit resulting from the more flat- 

 tened dorsum and produced carinas, together with the distinct and 

 jstrongiy elevated anterior and posterior margins of the carina', the 

 very broad, thickened, and somewhat indistinctly defined lateral mar- 

 gins of the anterior carintie, the much straighter posterior margin of 

 the first segment, the more apiculate process from the sternum of the 

 sixth segment of male, and the greater development of the curious 

 prominence from the dorsal side of the second joint of the anterior 

 male legs, furnish structural data leading to the inference of generic 

 distinctness from both Astrodesmus and Aulodesmus, in both of which 

 the anterior and posterior edges of the carinpe are narrowly and rather 

 indistinctly uuugined, the lateial thickened margins of the anterior 

 carinas are narrow and well defined along the mesial side, and the pos- 

 terior margin of the first segment is curved distinctly cephalad on each 

 side, so that the lateral length is distinctly less than the mesial, which 

 condition appears to a very much less degree in oxygonus. Here the 

 posterior part of the raised margin is, as in the other anterior seg- 

 ments, very broad, strongly thickened, and poorly defined mesad; the 

 whole carina is also, as on the other anterior segments, tilted more 

 hoi izontally than the general slope of the mesial arch, which in the 

 other two genera is scarcely varied, even on the anterior segments. 

 From Aulodesmus the new genus is also distinct in the greater produc- 

 tion of the coxte of the second legs of male, the much less hirsute 

 sterna and legs, the more distinct and abrupt transverse constriction 

 of the segments, and in the proportionally greater robustness of at 

 least the second joint of the antenna, the others having been lost. The 

 rudiments, though slight, of dorsal sculpture in the form of three 

 transverse rows of tubercles are interesting and of some phylogenetic 

 importance in the present family, from which similar traces have so 

 generally disappeared. 



Eecently Count Attems ^ has reported this species from Zanzibar, but 

 I am inclined to doubt the determination on account of the fact that 

 the other Mozambique Diplopoda described by Peters have not been 

 found in the Zanzibar region, and for the further reason that the identi- 

 fication was made without an examination of the type, while the litera- 

 ture employed by Count Attems appears quite insufficient as the basis 

 of a trustworthy reference. 



1 Beschreibung der von Dr. Stuhlmann iu Ost-Afrika gesammelteu Myriopoden. 

 Mitth. Naturh. Mus. Hamburg, 1896, XIII, p. 26. 



