62 Mr. E. S. Russell on Depastmm cyathiforme. 



in Cuba *, R. laticauda in Venezuela and Colombia, whereas 

 the only examples of R. agamemnon and R. Borellii hitherto 

 known are labelled " Brazil," without further particulars. 

 Thanks, however, to Burchell, we are now aware that 

 R. Borellii is found in the Province of Goyaz, in the 

 upper valley of the Rio Tocantins or that of at least one of 

 its tributaries. Burchell was at Porto Real (now Porto 

 Nacional) when he made his note on specimen no. 1274. 

 Burchell's collection also contains another specimen of the 

 same species (a female) bearing a label " Body and legs 

 redish. Between the boxes at our station at Sape. 

 15. 10. 28." Referring to the Index we find that Burchell 

 gives " S a Brigida" as his locality on Oct. 15, 1828. Sape' 

 is mentioned on Oct. 14. The position is between Caval- 

 canti, his resting-place on Sept. 30th, and OonceicTio, which 

 he reached on Oct. 18th, but apparently much nearer to the 

 latter. A glance at Plate III. will show the positions of these 

 two localities of R. Borellii. 



So far as the function of the organ in these American 

 Buthidae is concerned, it need only be said that since it is 

 equally well developed in both sexes, and occurs also in 

 immature forms, there is no reason to suppose that it has any 

 sexual significance. Hence, like the stridulating-organs of 

 other scorpions and of the spiders of the family AviculariidaBj 

 its significance must be regarded as purely aposematic. 



EXPLANATION OF TLATE IV. 



Fig. 1. Rhopalurus Borellii, Poc, ?, nat. size; drawn from typical 



example. 

 Fig. 2. Ditto. Ventral surface of anterior extremity of abdomen and of 



posterior extremity of cephalothorax, to show the granular 



areas on the first abdominal sternite, the pecten of the left side 



being removed. 

 Fig. 3. Ditto. Piece of the pecten seen from its dorsal side, to show the 



finely ridged stridulating area. 

 Fig. 4. Rhopalurus junceus (Herbst). Ditto. 



V. — Notes on Depastrum cyathiforme, Gosse. 

 By E. S. Russell. 



[Plate V.] 



M. SAKS, in 1846, was the first to describe and figure this 

 interesting little Lucernarian. He discovered it near Bergen 

 and described it under the name of Lucernaria cyathiformis 



* There are specimens in the British Museum labelled " Mexico " and 

 " Brazil." These localities, however, require confirmation. 



