from Siberia and Waigatsch Island. 307 



that have not as yet been found anywhere but in Siberia ; and 

 as regards the other four species, it seems probable that two 

 of them, namely those which have been referred by Gerstfeldt 

 to Geophilus {Arthronomalus) longicornis^ Leach, and lulus 

 terrestriSj Linne, represent quite distinct though allied forms. 

 Indeed it is scarcely to be supposed that two forms so un- 

 doubtedly European would extend so far eastward, beyond 

 Baikal, as where the Songari empties itself into the Amur, 

 where the latter — or the river Schilka, where the former is said 

 to have been found. Statements of this kind must be received 

 with caution and not implicitly relied on. The two others, 

 the Lithohius crassijyes, L. Koch, and the Polyzonium ger- 

 manicum^ Brandt, as we have already said, were long since 

 known as European. The former is a species frequently met 

 with and widely spread in Europe. It is also found on the- 

 coast of North Africa, and in the north of Europe extends far 

 beyond the woody region, being found in the island of Wai- 

 gatsch, the south end of which lies forty-five geographicalr 

 miles to the north of that region. In Siberia it is found in 

 the neighbourhood of Yenisei between 61° and 64° north 

 latitude, and may probably be met with much further to the 

 north. The Polyzonium germanicum^ on the other hand, is a 

 more southern form. It is found in the Caucasus, Poland, 

 Germany, in France (near Paris), in Denmark, in the south of 

 Sweden as far as Bohuslan (58°— 59° N. lat.), and is said to 

 occur on the shores of the Gulf of Finland, but not further 

 north *. Such being the case, it appears rather strange to 

 find it in Siberia near the river Yenisei, in the high latitude of 

 66° 17' north. In Scandinavia it is one of the most southern 

 Chilognatha ; near Yenisei, it was the very first of this order 

 that was found by the Swedish expedition Avhen ascending the 

 river on their way back through Siberia. For these reasons 

 it seems probable that the latter species has its original centre 

 not in Europe, nor in the Caucasus, but in Central Asia ; and 

 it has perhaps, in spreading, taken the same course as the 

 great number of plants which at the present time belong to 

 the flora of Europe, but originally came from the widely 

 branched Altai range. But this cannot as yet be more than 

 conjecture. 



Before entering upon a description of the species brought 

 home, I may be allowed here to make the following brief 

 remarks. The Platydesmus amurensis^ Gerstf., is the repre- 

 sentative of a genus of which before only one species was 



* The inftn-matiou that this species is met with in Finland was given 

 nie by Dr. Richard Sievers, wlio is occupied with a monograph of the 

 Myriopoda of Finland. 



