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Show 1881.] THE SURVEY OF H.M.S. 'ALERT.' 61 crowded into a " moss "-like tuft as in P. belgica. The absolute total length is nearly one third less than that of P. belgica ; the stolon is of regular diameter. There is no median dilatation of the pedicel. The description of P. americana, Leidy (J. Ac. Philad. iii. p. 142) recalls in some particulars the present form, viz. its smooth undilated pedicels, the body with crenated border concentrically striated, and the 12 tentacles ; but it is only \ of a line high, i. e. about '7 millim., whereas this is 1*5 millim. without the head ; the relative positions of the intestine and stomach in the figure differ from those of our species. The species described by Studer from Kerguelen Island (Archiv f. Naturg. 1878, p. 124) as " Pedicellina an nov. sp ? Die Wander der 2 m m . hohen gestielten Becher sind volkommen glatt" is very likely identical with P. australis. A species is also mentioned without name by Joliet (Compt. Rend. 1879, Febr., p. 392), from the island of St. Paul, north-east of Kerguelen Island. CRUSTACEA. By EDWARD J. MIERS, F.L.S., F.Z.S. (Plate VII.) The Crustacean fauna of the Straits of Magellan and of the adjacent coasts and islands has been more thoroughly investigated than that of many other parts of the South-American continent, as, not to mention various species described by Guerin-Meneville, Milne-Edwards, White, and other authors, considerable collections were made in these regions by the naturalists of the United-States Exploring Expedition under Commodore Wilkes, U.S.N., and described by Dana in his great work1. More recently Dr. Cunningham has published an account of the collections made by him during the voyage of H.M.S. ' Nassau,' wherein will be found a list, accompanied by notes, of the Crustacea and Cirripedia, most of which were collected on the southern, south-eastern, and south-western American coasts2. The collection received from Dr. Coppinger contains, as was to be anticipated, many species well known to science, but also several which are apparently undescribed, and others of which the range has not hitherto been ascertained to extend in a southerly direction as far as the Magellan Straits ; moreover the localities, depth of water, and the nature of the sea-bottom have in nearly all cases been carefully noted. The Crustacea of the Magellan Straits are essentially Antarctic in character : many of the species are known to occur at New Zealand, the Auckland aiid Kerguelen Islands, and, no doubt, range throughout the whole extent of the Southern Ocean ; others, however, occur on the Chilian coast or even further north. Although the Crustacea 1 U.S. Exploring Expedition, xiii., xiv., Crustacea, parts 1, 2 (1852,1853). 2 Trans. Linn. Soc. xxvii. p. 465 (1871). |