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DESCRIPTIONS OF SOME NEW SPECIES OF SCORPIONS* 



FROM INDIA. 



Br R. I. Pococe, of the British Museum of Natural History.. 



(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society on 18th March, 1897.) 



Part I. — Introductory Remarks, 



In the spring of 1896 I undertook, at Mr. R. C. Wroughton's 

 request, to identify for the Bombay Natural History Society any Indian 

 scorpions that might be forwarded to me, subject to the reservation 

 that representatives of the species examined and the typical example 

 of any that proved to be new might be retained for the national 

 collection. Upon my gladly acquiescing in the proposed' plan of 

 operations, which offered such a splendid and wholly unexpected 

 opportunity of confirming and extending our knowledge of these 

 interesting animals, Mr. Wroughton with characteristic energy and 

 despatch applied himself to the task of amassing material by appealing 

 for specimens to various members of the Society quartered in different, 

 parts of India. 



The net result, up to the present time, of this collecting raid upon 

 the scorpions has been ; firstly, the capture of a thousand or so speci- 

 mens of various genera and species from a large number of localities ;. 

 secondly, the addition of some dozen new species to science and of 

 some fourteen new forms to the Indian fauna ; thirdly, an immense 

 increase in our knowledge of the range of structural variation and 

 geographical distribution of the previously known species ; and,, 

 fourthly, the enrichment of the national collection by upwards of 450 

 specimens, including examples of all the species obtained, and of the 

 Museum of the Bombay Natural History Society by a named collection 

 containing the larger part of the known Indian species. 



It may be added that every specimen, as it passed through Mr. 

 Wroughton's hands, was carefully measured and labelled with a 

 number corresponding to a number on a MS. table on which was 

 carefully entered the measurements, locality and collector's name. 



It is my intention finally to write a complete account of the 

 scorpions of India, with figures of the different species, and an 

 introduction on the structural terminology, classification, distribution, 

 &c, to be published, by permission of Mr, Phipson, in a series of 



