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Show 52 MR. E. J. MIERS ON CRUSTACEA FROM [Jail. 14, MACRURA. THALASSINIDEA. GEBIIDJE. GEBIA MAJOR. Gebia major, De Haan, Faun. Japon., Crust, p. 165, pi. xxxv. fig. 7 (1849). Several specimens are in the collection from Katzura aud Kada Bay, some obtained from coarse sand and gravel 18 to 20 inches below surface. The spinules on the upper margin of the hand, mentioned by De Haan, are very small, and concealed by the longer hairs, so as to be scarcely distinguishable. CARIDEA. CRANGONID.E. PARACRANGON ECHINATUS. Paracrangon echinatus, Dana, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phil. p. 20 (1852); U.S. Expl. Exp. xiii. Crust, i. p. 538, pi. xxxiii. fig. 6 (1852); Stimpson, Boston Journ. Nat. Hist. v. p. 497 (1857). A single specimen, apparently a male, was collected north-east of Yedo Island, in lat. 44° 27' N.," long. 141° 22' E., and differs in no respect whatever from the Californian species described by Dana, which was described from specimens dredged in Puget Sound, and of which authentic examples from California are in the Museum collection, presented by the Smithsonian Institution. The occurrence of the single species known of this curious genus (which, with the hands of a Crangon, has the external appearance, elongate rostrum, &c. of a Hippolyte, and which is remarkable for the total obsolescence of the cephalothoracic legs of the second pair) on both sides of the Pacific Ocean is a noteworthy fact; and it is probable that, with further opportunities of comparison, other species will be shown to have a similarly extended range. ALPHEID^E. ALPHEUS. There is probably scarcely any genus of Crustacea in which the species are more numerous, and which more greatly needs thorough revision than the present. Not only are the characters in themselves hardly to be defined and accurately appreciated without the aid of well-executed figures, but we do not know at present how far those which are generally adopted in distinguishing the species (t. e. the form and sculpture of the hands and the proportional length of the joints of the wrists of the anterior legs) may be modified by the age and sex of the individual. Under these circumstances it is not without considerable hesitation that I describe below two species as new, which, however, are distinct from any hitherto recorded, so far as I can judge from the materials available to me for comparison. |