E. W. Gates— Om the Species of Thelyphonus inhabiting [No. 1, 



11. — On the Species of Thelyphonus inhabiting Oontinental India, Burma, 

 and the Malay Peninsula. — £y Eugene W. Gates, P. Z. S. Gom- 

 mimicated by The Sui'erintendent op the Indian Museum. 

 [Received January 24th ;— Read April 3rd, 1889.] 

 (With Plate II.) 



The obscure animals wliicli belong to this genus arc very little 

 known. I have steadily collected thorn for some yeai-s now with the 

 best results, and not long since I took the opportunity of studying the 

 specimens contained in the Indian Museum, all of which were very 

 kindly placed at niy dis^josal by Mr. J. Wood-Mason, the Superintendent 

 of the museum. 



There are now thirteen species known within the above limits, of 

 which three have been already described, eight are new to science, and 

 two are unknown to me, and in my opinion insufficiently described to be 

 ever determinable. These two were described by Mr. A. G. Butler many 

 years ago and in terms which, when applied to these animals, are 

 altogether insufficient. For this reason I have excluded them from 

 this papei', and I hope to notice them on a future occasion, when I have 

 had time to examine the types, which I understand are in the British 

 Museum. These two species are T. sepiaris, described from Tonghoo 

 and Ceylon, and T. nigrescens, from Tenasserim (Cist. Ent. vi, p. 129). 



The Thehjphoni live under timber and stones, lying concealed during 

 the day time and creeping about at night only. When discovered, they 

 seem overcome with surprise, but they speedily recover and hurry away 

 with considerable speed into holes and crevices. They are frequently 

 found at the roots of trees under accumulations of dead loaves and 

 rubbish. They require moisture, but must have well drained soil. 



I have never found two species together, and my experience is that 

 each species inhabits a tract of country to the exclusion of others. For 

 instance, in Rangoon T. rangunensis is found ; proceeding 80 miles north, 

 this species ceases and T. sylvaticus occurs. Similarly, further north 

 T. saxatilis is alone found to occur. Reef and Double Islands each has 

 its peculiar species. The species which so far as I know has the largest 

 area of distribution is T. indicus, but the localities " Western Bengal 

 and Southern India " attached to the few specimens I have been able 

 to examine are so vague that no certainty can be attached to this 

 point. 



The Thehjphoni, when once you get into the way of finding them, are 

 sufficiently abundant. I have frequently found twenty in one morning, 



