38 A SYNOPSIS OF THE BRITISH SYMPHYLA 



Scolopendrella minutissima sp. nov. (PI. I., figs. 25-27). 



Material. — One specimen with 8 and one with 9 pairs of 

 legs, excluding the vestigial pair. 



Size. — The larger specimen is 1-5 mm. long; both are 

 exerted. Very slender. 



Head almost as in .S. vulgaris. The antennae of the type 

 specimens are not only all broken but too contracted to 

 describe ; the largest number of joints we have counted is 

 fifteen, but this is not the full complement. 



Scuta. — The second scutum is comparatively speaking excep- 

 tionally long. The processes are distinctly longer than broad, 

 whilst those of the third scutum are just as long as broad. 

 The distance between the former pair of processes is very little, 

 if any, longer than the length, and of the latter quite twice the 

 length of the process. The antero-lateral seta is not strongly 

 pronounced, and on the lateral margin of the second scutum 

 there are three long setae between the antero-lateral seta and 

 the apical one, with two small intermediate setae as shewn in 

 the figure. The larger setae are about one-half as long as the 

 process. The antero-lateral setae of the third scutum are 

 longer than the others, being about as long as the process, 

 whilst there are only two long setae and no minor ones between 

 the antero-lateral and apical setae. As in delicatula the inner 

 margins of the processes are without setae. 



Legs. — I have not yet made a satisfactory study of the first 

 or vestigial pair, but there is in one specimen a distinct 

 rudimentary leg comprising a single joint twice as long as 

 broad, and surmounted by what would probably be a vestigial 

 claw (fig. 27). The legs of the last pair are long and rather 

 stout, the tibia, metatarsus, and tarsus having one, two, and 

 three long outstanding bristles respectively, these being almost 

 as long as the depth of the tarsus, which is rather stout and 

 about three times as long as deep. 



Cerci. — Small, only a little more than half the length of the 

 legs of the last pair, and about three times as long as deep. 



