CLASSIFICATION OF THE ORDEK SYMPHYLA. 195 



On the Classification o£ the Order Symphyla. 



By Eichard S. Bagnall, F.L.S., F.E.S. 



(Hope Dept. of Zoology, Uuiversity Museum, Oxford.) 



[Read 3rd April, 1913.] 



As far back as 1882, in a note on the " Genera o£ the Scolopendrellidse," * 

 ■J. A. Ryder shows that there are two forms, stating. that "the first has the 

 body very slender, tapering anteriorly, with the eyes or stenimata placed on 

 the upper surface of the narrow, elongate head ; the second form has a 

 ^broader, more robust body of nearly uniform width anteriorly and posteriorly, 

 with the eyes or stemmata at the sides of the head and not visible from 

 above, the head itself being nearly circular or sub-quadrate in outline 

 from above. 



"The first is the type to which we may assign the old designation of 

 Scolopendrella originally proposed for it by Grervais f ; the second, of which 

 Newport's species (i. e., immaculata) becomes the typCj may be distinguished 

 generically from the first, as pointed out above, under the name of Scutigerella. 

 The latter form is also distinguished from the first by the much greater 

 •development of the basal appendages of the legs.'"* 



Hansen $, in his excellent ' Monograph of the Order Symphyla ' 



(established as an order by Ryder in 1880) says (p. 23) : " The group 



consists of one single family with two genera," but in a footnote he adds, 



with some significance, " Some zoologist will perhaps soon establish these 



;genera as families, and divide each of them into two or more genera/' 



Since Hansen's work was published in 1904 single species have been 

 described by Imms, Silvestri, and Attems, whilst I have had the pleasure 

 •of examining very rich English material comprising no less than fourteen 

 species and have just received numerous tubes of Oriental material. 



Prior to the appearance of Hansen's monograph Silvestri § diagnosed a 

 .new genus, Sympliylella, for the species of Scolopendrella in which the first 

 pair of legs is absent, with isabellce, Grassi, as tj-pe. He also figured and 

 ■described Scoloijendrella notacantha, Gervais, and S. pygma'a, sp. n., species 

 which agree in the possession of the first pair of legs, but which in my 

 opinion are more strongly separated than pygmcea and isabellce. This paper 

 was not noticed by Hansen, and I am inclined to think that Seal, suhnuda, 

 Hansen, will prove to be synonymous with S. pygmcea, Silvestri. 



In working out my material I have come to the conclusion that the 

 genera Scutigerella a,nd Scolopendrella as diagnosed by Hansen represent two 



* Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. v. (1882) p. 235. 

 t Ann. Sci. Nat. s^r. 3, Zool. ii., 1844. 



% " The Genera and Species of the Order Symphyla," Quart. Journ. jMicr. Sci. xlvii., 1904. 

 § In Berlese's ' Acari, Myriop. et Scorp. hue. in Italia rep.,' fasc. xcvi., 1902. 

 LINN. JOURN. ZOOLOGY, VOL. XXXII. 17 



