1890.] OF THK FAMILY BUTHID.E. 125 



the inferior keels on the posterior segments ; the vesicle and aculeus 

 are large and there is no spine beneath the aculeus. 



The pectines are armed with many teeth, which are all alike in 

 both sexes ; and the sternum is reduced to a minimum, being smaller 

 than in any of the genera liitherto considered. 



The males have a wider hand than the females ; and the females 

 of most of the species may be recognized by the possession of a 

 remarkable internal lobate dilatation of the base of the pectines. 

 This dilatation, although it appears to belong to the shaft of the 

 pecten, results, I am now inclined to think, from the fusion of the 

 enlarged basal tooth with the sclerite that supported it. If this be so, 

 the character can be directly derived from what is seen in Grosphus, 

 where the tooth is enlarged but still free, and it unmistakably 

 points to Grosphus as the ancestor of Parabuthus. 



The Museum possesses examples of the following representatives 

 of tliis subgenus : — 



P. liusoma, Ehrb. Symb. Phys. no. 10. 



P. villosus, Peters, Monatsb. Ak. Wiss. Berlin, 1862, p. 26 ; 

 Thorell, Etudes Scorpiol. p. 29. 



P. planicauda ', Pocock, Ann. Nat. Hist. (6) iii. p. 344 (1889). 



P. brevimanus, Thorell, op. cit. p. 36. 



P.fulvipes, Simon, Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr. vii. p. 378 (1888). 



Subgenus Buthus, s. s. 



Buthus, Leach, Trans. Linn. Soc. xi. p. 391 (1815) — type 

 occitanus {^=-europceus, Linn.). 



Androctonus (Leiunts), Hempr. & Ehrb. Verb. nat. Fr. Berlin, i. 

 p. 352 (1829) — type tunetatms (=europceus, Linn.). 



Hub. The Old World, except Australia. 



The denticles on the digits of the chela very much resemble in 

 arrangement those of Parabuthus ; but in the majority of cases the 

 teeth of the internal series appear to have taken up a more forward 

 position, so that they alternate with the teeth of the external series 

 and do not form with them oblique short rows. 



The cepbalothorax is (? always) furnished with symmetrically placed 

 granular keels, and the tergites with at least three granular keels. 

 The tail is moderately powerful ; there is no spine beneath the 

 aculeus, and the upper sides of the fifth caudal segment are rounded 

 and not compressed and carinate. 



The pectines are long, all the teeth are alike, and there are no 

 noticeable sexual variations in these organs. The ' manus ' of the male 

 may be wider than in the female and the dactyli may be more lobate 

 and sinuate, but generally speaking the sexes are hard to recognize. 



This subgenus contains more s|)ecies tiiaii any other genus or sub- 

 genus of the family. These s])ccies are found principally in the 

 countries bordering the Mediterranean ; but from thence they spread 

 southwards along the west and east coasts of Africa to the Cape of 

 Good Hope, and eastwards through Persia and Afghanistan to Pekin 



' ? = capcnsis (Ehrb.) 



Proc. Zool. Soc— 1890, No. X. 10 



