REPORT ON THE CENTIPEDES AND MILLIPEDES OBTAINED 



BY DR A. WILLEY IN THE LOYALTY ISLANDS, NEW 

 BRITAIN, AND ELSEWHERE. 



By R. I. POCOCK, 



OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



With Plate VI. 



In addition to a few specimens too immature or too damaged for identification, 

 Dr Willey's collection contains representatives of twenty-one species, of which no fewer 

 than thirteen prove to be undescribed, three of them being representatives of new 

 genera. This percentage of new forms is not unexpectedly large, considering the little 

 that was previously known of the 'Myriapod' fauna of the islands in question. 



The fauna of New Britain shows affinities with that of the Oriental and Australian 

 regions as defined by Sclater and Wallace. Of the centipedes, Scutigera maculata, 

 Cupipes amphietirys and Ethnostigmus platycephalus, and of the millipedes, the species 

 of Rhinocricus, constitute the Australian and Austro-Malayan element ; whereas the 

 Oriental element is represented by such forms as Mecistocephalus punctifrons, Goni- 

 bregmatus anguinus, Otostigmus punctiventer and Eucratonyx hamatus. Of the remaining 

 forms recorded in this paper, Ethmostigmus granulosus, Otostigmus angusticeps, and 

 Trigoniulus pulcherrimus belong to genera extending throughout the Oriental and 

 Australian areas, while the new genus of millipedes, Aschistodesmus, is related to genera 

 of equally wide distribution. 



Of the new species here described the only one that calls for special comment 

 is the centipede belonging to the genus Gonibregmatus. This genus was established 

 by Newport, in 1844, upon a single dried female specimen in the British Museum, 

 from the Philippine Islands. Nearly fifty years elapsed before the genus was rediscovered, 

 when Dr Max Weber procured one, also a female, in the island of Saleyer, to the 

 south of Celebes. This specimen proved to be specifically distinct from the Philippine 

 species described by Newport. Although owing to scarcity of material but little was 

 known of the mouth parts, Mr Cook recently established a family for the reception of 

 the genus. That his conclusion was fully justified is borne out by an examination 

 of the jaws, made possible upon the material Dr Willey was fortunate enough to obtain 

 in New Britain, an examination which further shows the significance of Newport's 

 describing the mouth as adapted for sucking. 



In all the centipedes known up to the present time the mandibles or gnathites 

 (jaws) of the first pair consist on each side of a bisegmented skeletal piece, that of 



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