18 Proceedings of the Roi/al Irish Academy. 



brought from the Seychelles to the Hamburg Museum. He referred to this 

 genus another species L. gracilis {I.e., p. 178) founded on a single female fi'om 

 Sumatra. Subsequently Silvestri ('08 «, pp. 382-4) described Z. E&chericMi 

 from Corfu, L. ceylonica ('10, pp. 95-6) from Ceylon, and L. afro. ('0S&, p. 12) 

 and L. meridimmlis ('13, pp. 12-13) from South Africa. These species all 

 agree in their fairly large size and narrow build, in which they resemble the 

 Nieoletiae,- while, imlike the members of that genus, their bodies are sealed. 

 The species of Lepidospora, thus apparently few in number and scattered in 

 their distribution, show a strange divergence in the form of the ovipositor. 

 In L. Braucri (whose female is described below) the gonapophyses (Plate X, 

 figs. 117, 118, go. 119) are thick, unjointed, and spindle-shaped, like those of 

 Atelura ; the same form of ovipositor is foimd also in L. £schericliii Sil^•estri. 

 On the other hand, in L. gracilis Escherich and L. mcndionalis Silvestri the 

 gonapophyses are elongate, slender, and jointed like those of iN'ieoletia and of 

 most of the Lepisminae. In L. cei/lonica Silvestri they are thick and jointed. 

 In this character, therefore, the structure of Lepidospora indicates an 

 interesting transitional condition. A primitive feature of Lepidospora is 

 seen in the presence of eight paii-s of abdominal stylets ; this large number, 

 characteristic of the Machilidae, is reduced to two or three pairs in most 

 species of tlie Lepismidae. 



Lepidospora Braueri Esch. (1904). 

 (Plates IX, X, figs. 102-120). 



This very carious and interesting species is described and figmred in 

 Escherich's Monograph from a single male, collected in the Seychelles, and 

 preserved in the Hamburg Museum. The present collection contains several 

 specimens of both sexes (all from the high level forest regions), so that some 

 account of the structural features of the insect can be given. Attention has 

 been especially paid to the jaws and to the ovipositor in the females. 



Localities. — Mah<^. in mountain forest : Cascade, 2,000 feet (one male, one 

 female, 3rd December, 1905) ; Montague Alphonse, Cascade, 1,800 feet (one 

 female, 4th December, 1905) ; Mare aux Cochons, 1,500 feet, in dead leaves 

 (one female, January, 1909). Silhouette : highest point, 2,467 feet, in damp 

 earth under dead leaves (one male and four females, several immature, 

 2nd September, 1908j ; forest near Mare aux Cochons, over 1,000 feet 

 (9th September, 1908, one immature). 



A description of the jaws and ovipositor of a Mediterranean species of 

 Lepidospora ' L. Esclifricliii from Corfu) has been given by Silvestri ('08 «, 

 pp. 382-4, figs. 18, 19). The maiuUbhs of L. Braueri (Plate IX, figs. 104-105) 



