A SHORT SURVEY OF THE SOLIFUGAE 
OF SOUTH AFRICA 
INTRODUCTION. 
The study of the Solifugae has absorbed a certain amount of attention 
from Zoologists for many years. Morphologists regard them with interest 
because of the retention of primitive characters in their structure, as is 
conspicuously exhibited in the segmentation of the body: the sys- 
tematise on the other hand, is equally impressed by the remarkable 
diversity of forms found within the same genus, the variations of which 
seem to be promiscuous and largely discontinuous. 
The Solifuge fauna of S. Africa is particularly rich: indeed, a fauna 
so abounding in genera and species as that found in the western and 
central portions of this subcontinent is not known from any other part 
of the world. 
For our knowledge of the species we are indebted to various workers, 
but more particularly to Mr R. I. Pocock, Prof. K. Kraepelin and Dr W. F. 
Purcell. Mr Pocock’s pioneer papers on the material in the British 
Museum of Natural History constitute the first important attempt to 
make known the great diversity that obtains within the limits of this 
order, and to classify the genera and species. His work considerably 
advanced the knowledge of this subject, but was somewhat marred by 
the very inferior illustrations that accompanied his accounts. 
A few years later, Prof. Kraepelin’s very useful monograph of the 
whole order was published in Das Tierreich. In this work all the known 
species were described, and the important characters as far as possible 
illustrated. Thus, it was, and still is, quite indispensable to students of 
this order, but is no longer sufficient as a guide to the species of the less 
familiar genera such as Blossia. 
The best contributions to our knowledge of S. African Solifugae are 
those contained in Dr Purcell’s several papers, based on the collections 
of the S. African Museum. These are sufficiently accurate and detailed 
to be accepted as a very reliable starting point in the study of our fauna. 
Since the appearance of the above mentioned works, various new 
species have been described by the late Prof. Kraepelin and by the 
present writer. Kraepelin’s papers are useful as presenting his final 
accounts of the fauna of South-West Africa and of the Kalahari. 
During recent years a great deal of additional material has accumu- 
lated in the collections of the Museums of S. Africa, and although ade- 
quate material for even a moderately complete account of the variation 
exhibited within this order in S. Africa is still unavailable, yet I think a 
sufficient amount of new data has been obtained to justify the following 
revision of all the known species and varieties. The imperfections of our 
knowledge will be understood from the fact that very many species are 
only known from single specimens. 
The present paper, based mainly on the collections of the Albany and 
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