ON A SMALL COLLECTION OF SCORPIONS. 311 



bt. The hand much wider, the width in 6 and $ 



being much greater than the length of the 'hand- back.' 



aP. The upper surface of the hand furnished with 



large, low, sometimes anastomosing tubercles ; the 



anterior superior caudal keels smooth or nearly so 



megacephalus (C. Koch). 



b^. The upper surface of the hand smoother and 

 adorned with a reticulated pattern of fine low ridges, 

 imparting a coarsely punctured appearance to the 

 surface ; the anterior superior caudal keels denti- 

 culate indiciiSi Linn. (Thor.) 



Scorpio ccesar of 0. Koch (Loc. cit., ix, pp. 6-9, fig. 697) described 

 from the East Indies, bears a strong resemblance to the great West 

 African species Sc. africanus, Linn. (Thor.)* It is, however, smaller 

 and has a shorter tail, &c. The British Museum has two specimens 

 of this species, one from Ceylon and the other without locality. Both 

 are 6 . The length of the Ceylonese example is 1 2 1 mm., of which the 

 tail is 67 (its first two segments 17-5), and the cephalothorax 16-5. 



C. Koch's specimen, as also the one described by Thorell (loc. cit. 

 p. 205), appear to be females. Sc. emssimaniis of Becker (Ann. 

 Soc. Ent. Belg., xxiv, pp. 7 and 8, pi. Ill, fig. 1) may be this 

 species, but the figure of it is too crude and the description too brief 

 to enable one to speak with certainty on this point. 



Scorpio scaber (Thorell, Etudes Scorpiol., p. 202. Syn. afer, Simon, 

 Rev. Mag. Zool., 1872, pp. 11-13, pi. VI, fig. 1) is a species that 

 cannot be mistaken for any other. The upper surface of the 

 cephalothorax is entirely covered with tubercles, the tergites, more- 

 over, are also decked with tubercles or granules in the posterior half, 

 and on the superior intercarinal spaces of the tail the coarse granules 

 are arranged in definite longitudinal series. The hands, on the 

 contrary, are very smooth, being covered with a reticulated pattern 

 almost as in indicus. 



The British Museum has only four examples of the species, ticketed 

 East Indies. According to Simon it is common at Bengal. 



* I strongly suspect that the species known as gigas, Pal._ de Beauv., rceseli, 

 Sim., imperator, C. Koch, stmoni, Becker, and dictator, Pocock, will prove to be syno- 

 nymous with africanus. 



41 



