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Show 1881.] THE SURVEY OF H.M.S. 'ALERT.' 65 even more distinct species of this genus; but the series in the British- Museum collection does not suffice to decide this question, by far the greater number of specimens having been obtained at or near the southern extremity of the American continent. Bell (Trans. Zool. Soc. ii. p. 40, 1849) refers examples of Eurypodius from Brazil to E. latreillei; but I have seen no specimens from this locality. In the great majority of specimens in the British-Museum collection, the spines of the rostrum are robust, of moderate length, and curve slightly downward; the spines on the branchial regions are small or reduced to tubercles; and the penultimate joints of the ambulatory legs are considerably dilated and longer than the antepenultimate joints. In younger individuals the joints of the legs and rostral spines are slenderer. One adult male from Sandy Point, in the series presented to the British Museum by Dr. Cunningham, differs from all others in the collection in the greater development of the anterior legs, in which the palm is turgid and the dactylus armed with a very strong tubercle on its inner margin. In two examples from Chili (one an adult male), which I at first thought might be regarded as a distinct species, the branchial spines are somewhat more developed, and the antepenultimate joints about equal the penultimate joints in length, these latter being also less dilated than in adult examples from the Straits of Magellan and Falkland Islands. A better series of examples from Chili, however, is needed to prove whether or not these characters are permanent. I have seen no examples in which the antepenultimate joints of the legs greatly exceed the penultimate joints in length. Dr. Cunningham in his Report {I. c. p. 491) retains no fewer than four distinct species-E. latreillei, E. audouinii, E. septentrio-nalis, and E. brevipes. The series collected by Dr. Coppinger includes :-several adult males and females from Puerto Bueno, obtained at a depth of 4 fathoms, on a muddy bottom ; a female and several young from Sandy Point, at 7-10 fathoms; and one young individual obtained in Trinidad Channel, at a depth of 30 fathoms. INACHOIDES MICRORHYNCHUS. Lnachoides microrhynchus, Eydoux & Souleyet, Voy. Bonite, Zool. Cr. p. 219 (1841); M.-Edw. & Lucas in d'Orbigny's Voy. Amer-. merid. vi. Cr. p. 4, pi. iv. fig. 2 (1843) ; Gay, Hist, de Chile, Zool. iii. Cr. p. 126 (1849). Xiphus margaritifere, Eyd. & Soul. Voy. Bonite, Zool. Cr. Atlas, pi. i. fig. 1 (1841). Two males and a female were brought by Dr. Coppinger from Coquimbo. Both genus and species have been hitherto unrepresented in the collection of the British Museum. The adult male agrees very well with Milne-Edwards and Lucas's figure; but the depressions separating the regions of the carapace are not very strongly marked, as stated in the description of these authors. PROC. ZOOL. Soc-1881, No. V. 5 |