On the Specific Identity of the Scorpion-Spider 

 of the Loochoos and Formosa. 



BY 



Tomotaro Iwakawa. 



With Plate XL 



The Scorpion-spiders from the Loochoo Islands and Formosa have 

 been distinguished into two species. The Loochoo species was first de- 

 scribed by H. C. Wood (1862) under the name of Thelyphomis stimpsoni, 1 

 while that of Formosa was first introduced to science by R. I. Pocock 

 (1894) by the name of Typopeltis crucifcr? 



The specimens which stand at my disposal for examination are ten in 

 number. Of these four (two males and two females) came from Formosa. 

 The remaining six specimens are from the Loochoos and are also equally 

 divided between males and females. The exact locality of these is probably 

 the Yaeyama archipelago, where the species appears to be not uncommon. 



The original descriptions of the two species are inaccessible to me, 

 but the complete synopsis and the useful key prepared by Prof. Karl 

 Kraepelin 3 have enabled me to identify them, and after a study of the 

 specimens I have been led to form a view of my own on the relation of 

 the scorpion-spider from the two localities. 



On close examination of the specimens, I have failed to discover such 

 a distinction between the two forms as has been pointed out by the original 

 authors. Moreover I have found several points of disagreement between 

 the specimens and the diagnosis given to each species. The characters 

 relied upon for distinguishing the two species were chiefly those of the first 



1. Proc. Ac. Philad., 1862, p. 312. 



2. Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 1894, ser. 6, v. 14, p. 128. 



3. Das Tierreich, 8. Liefering, 1899. 



