510 Ml- R. I. Pocock 071 new Sj^ecies of 



LIII. — Descriptions of some neio Species of Scorpions of the 

 Genus Tityus, toith Notes upon some Forms allied to 

 T. americanus {Linn.). By R. I. PocoCK. 



The identification of the specimens of Tityus obtained on the 

 Lower Amazons by Messrs. Austen and Pickard Cambridge 

 (see Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. April 1897, pp. 357-368) 

 entailed on my part a re-examination of the literature of the 

 subject and of the specimens contained in the collection of the 

 British Museum, many fresh examples having been acquired 

 since 1889 and 1893, when I ventured to discuss the affinities 

 of the form then spoken of comprehensively as americanus. 

 The result of this return to the subject has been the discovery 

 of a considerable number of new forms ; and since the name 

 americanus, so far as can be judged, is equally applicable to 

 many of them, and since we have no knowledge of the exact 

 locality of the type, I have decided to discard this term until 

 the type specimen lias been re-examined and its structural 

 characters accurately determined. This decision involves 

 the restoration to use of the later names ohscurus and forci- 

 pula, assigned by Gervais to two species congeneric with 

 americanus, and previously regarded as synonymous with it. 



Tityus forcipula (Gervais). (Figs. 1, la.) 



Scorpio forcipula, Gervais, Arch. Mus. iv. p. 221 (1844) ; Ins. Apt. iii. 

 p. 55'(1844). 



This species was based upon specimens, of unknown locality, 

 in the Paris ^luscum and upon one obtained by M. Goudot in 

 Colombia. The latter, now in the collection of the British 

 Museum, may be regarded as the type, as Gervais evidently 

 intended (see Ins. Apt. iii. p. 55) should be the case. When 

 discussing this species in the Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist, for July 

 1889, 1 fell into the error of regarding /orcj}m/a as the male of 

 ohscurus, relying u])on the accuracy of Gsrvai.s's identification 

 as ohscurus of a specimen in the British ^luseum, which is 

 obviously the female of the type of forcipula. As a matter 

 of fact, ohscurus was based upon specimens from Cayenne 

 (see Arch. Mus. iv. p. 219), and not upon specimens from 

 Colombia, though Gervais himself referred Goudot's Colom- 

 bian specimen, now in this collection, to tiiat species. This 

 specimen has but fifteen pectinal teeth, whereas the genuine 

 obsctirus is accredited with twenty-two ; so that there can be 

 very little doubt .as to the distinctness of ohscurus and forci- 

 pula. Some of ihe distinctive characters of the latter have 



