THE ANxNALS 



AND 



MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



[SIXTH SERIES.] 

 No. 99. MARCH 1896. 



XXVI. — yotes on the Anatomy of some Scorpions^ and I'f,^ 

 bearing on the Classification of the Order. By MalcOLW 

 Laurie, D.Sc, B.A., F.R.S.E., F.L.S., Professor of 

 Zoology in St. Mungo's College, Glasgow. 



[Plate IX.] 



The classification of the Scorpions has been based hitherto 

 entirely on external characters. While this method of 

 procedure is the most convenient for museum purposes, 

 where the preservation of the specimens intact is of import- 

 ance, it is very apt to lead to a system of classification 

 wliich does not express the true relationship of the forms. 

 That the results are not wholly satisfactory may be seen 

 by comparing the schemes proposed by Peters, Thorell, 

 Simon, Kraepelin, and Pocock. To cite a single example, 

 the members of section B of Thorell's subfamily Pandinini 

 are distributed under two families by Simon, while Pocock 

 arranges them under two families which do not correspond 

 with those of Simon, and one of which contains two sub- 

 families. So far as I am aware the only attempt to apply 

 the internal structure of this group to their classification is 

 that of Ray Lankester *. He based his classification on two 

 sets of organs — the abdominal nerve-ganglia and the lamellae 

 of the lung-books. Owing to the small number of forms 

 which he examined, his scheme, which divides the group into 

 * Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. xi. p. 372. 

 Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 6. Vol. xvii. 13 



