ScHARFF — Sonic l{ei>/(ir/,-s on tlio At/ajtfi.i Probkin. 29 1 



"We do not expect to obtain much information from the distribution 

 of the Orthoptera, as they are such an ancient order, Profionohlattina 

 from the Carboniferons rocks of Switzerland being much like a modern 

 cockroach, except for the difference in the neuration of the win"s. 

 The gronp containing the earwigs is now often separated from the 

 Orthoptera, and placed into the distinct order Dermaptera. Some 

 attention has been devoted to these orders in the Canary Islands by 

 Kranss, who found that the affinity between the fauna of tlicise 

 islands and that of the Mediterranean region was a most character- 

 istic feature. Of the sixty-four species referred to by tlie autlior, 

 thirty-three are common to both districts ; and fifteen species peculiar 

 to the islands are allied to Mediterranean forms. He thinks that 

 the relationship with the American fauna is not so distinctly traceable 

 in these as in other insect orders. The two species of Orthoptera 

 belonging to the cockroach section certainly have originated in the 

 South- American region — perhaps also Periplaneta americana, P. tricn- 

 cata, Vi\i^ Leucoplma surinamensis. Among those having near relations 

 in the Ethiopian and ]S"eotropic:d regions might be mentioned two 

 species oi Eolocampsa; while the origin of the locust OropliUa niihigena. 

 in the Canary Islands cannot, according to Kraiiss, be at present deter- 

 mined (p. 164). 



The range of some of the European species of Orthoptera is of 

 special interest, though the Forficulidce, owing to their enormously 

 wide distribution, are of comparatively little use in helping us to 

 unravel the history of former geographical revolutions. The species of 

 Chelidura are, with us, mountain forms. Two are found on the Spanish 

 mountains ; two others high up in the Pyrenees ; two on the Alps ; one 

 on the Italian mountains ; and one in Central Europe. It is therefore 

 remarkable, and particularly suggestive, that the two remaining species 

 known to science inhabit lower altitudes — one of them Madeira, and 

 the other Mexico. There are three other genera whose range will be 

 of interest in connection with these inquiries — viz., Turpelia, Isopliya, 

 and Odontura. The former is confined to the "West Indies, Mexico, 

 Brazil, and Madagascar ; while Isophya^ of which a number of species 

 are known from the Mediterranean region, reappears again on the 

 opposite side of the Atlantic in Brazil. Finally, Odontura, a South 

 European genus, is represented by a single species in Patagonia. 



Spiders and their allies. 



The Azorean spiders, remarks Mr. Simon, are mostly of European 

 origin; there are a few examples, however, which appear worthy of 



