206 BRITISH SPECIES OF FALSE-SCORPIONS. 



while Mons. Simon, who is undoubtedly at the head of all living 

 Arachnologists, attaches less value to this character and sub- 

 divides the one family (Clieliferidce) into three sub-families, based 

 chiefly on the presence or absence of the appendages of the falces 

 mentioned just now, and of the small quasi-joint (trochantin) found 

 at times between the trochanter and femur of some or all of the 

 legs. In this arrangement species are brought together by M. 

 Simon in his several sub-families (and sometimes also in his genera), 

 both with and without eyes, as well as differing in the number of 

 eyes when present. It appears to me that, to say the least, by this 

 method we lose the very tangible and obvious character of the 

 eyes in thus really making them of only specific value, while we 

 gain but little in any other respect from this arrangement. I 

 propose, therefore, to make the eyes the basis of the sub-division 

 I shall propose of the families, sub-dividing it into three divi- 

 sions or groups 1st, those possessing four eyes; 2nd, those 

 with two \ and 3rdly, those with none. It may be noted that 

 when arranged thus in a linear form the species fall almost 

 exactly into the same relative positions as in M. Simon's 

 arrangement. 



Various authors from Linnaeus onwards have written upon the 

 Cheliferidce ; but the more recent and important are Dr. Ludwig 

 Koch, Herr. Menge, Mons. Metschnikoff, and the most recent 

 Mons. Simon. This last author gives a resume in his vol. vii. of 

 the Arachnides de France, A.D. 1879, of all the authors who have 

 thus contributed to our knowledge of this group. I may mention, 

 however, that in England the late Dr. Leach as long ago as 1817 

 (Zool. Miscell., iii., p. 47) recorded and described seven or eight 

 species. His types are in the British Museum ; their condition is 

 not altogether satisfactory, but I have, I believe, succeeded in 

 determining most of them with fair certainty. His figures are 

 rough, some of them very inaccurate, and his descriptions very 

 brief and meagre. Another English author, Mr. H. Tulk (Ann. 

 Mag. N.H., 1844, vol. xiii., p. 55), first describes one of the curious 

 appendages of the falces mentioned above the serrula (Sim). 



