THE ANNALS 



AND 



MAGAZINE OF XATLTiAL HISTORY. 



[SIXTH SERIES.] 

 No. 117. SEPTEMBER 1897. 



XXV. — On the Genera and Species of Tropical African 

 Arachnida of the Order Solifiigaj, with Notes upon the 

 Taxonomy and Ilahits of the Group. By R. I. POCOCK, 

 of the British Museum of Natural History. 



The Etliiopian Region, or tliat part of xifrica which lies to 

 the south of the Sahara, is sing-ularly poor in genera of 

 Solifugae. Two at most, namely Ilexisopus and Ceroma, are 

 peculiar. The others are common to the ]\Iediterranean district 

 of the Palrearctic, but of these only Solpuqa can claim to 

 be regarded as typically p]thiopian, since the rest are to be 

 looked upon as emigrants southwards from the desert tracts of 

 Egypt and Nubia to physically similar areas in the countries 

 of the Somali and Masai. This dearth of genera, however, is 

 largely counterbalanced by richness in the number of species 

 of the genus iSolpuga^ which spreads from Somaliland and the 

 Congo over the whole of South Africa, including Cape Colony. 

 It is with some of the species of this genus that have recently 

 come to hand that this paper largely deals. The notes con- 

 cerning habits have been principally collected from the material 

 on this subject kindly supplied by Mr. G. A. K. Marshall. 



The African genera may be classified according to the 

 following table. Most of the genera not represented in the 

 Ethiopian Region will, I suspect, fall into the Solpuginte of 

 the family Solpugid^, though, perhaps, a few subfamilies in 

 addition to the two here recognized will have to be ultimately 

 established. 



Ann. & }[ag. N. Hist. Ser. 6. Vol. xx. 18 



