OCR Text |
Show 330 MR. F. E. BEDDARD ON THE ISOPODA COLLECTED [May 20, 1. Preliminary Notice of the Isopoda collected during the Voyage of H.M.S. 'Challenger'.- Part I. Serolis. By F R A N K E. B E D D A R D , M.A., F.R.S.E., F.Z.S., Prosector to the Society1. [Eeceived May 20, 1884.] The specimens of Serolis dredged during the voyage of the ' Challenger' are referable to sixteen species, of which seven have been more or less fully described by previous writers. Six of these species are as follows:-Serolis cornuta, Studer; Serolis latifrons, White; Serolis septemcarinata, Miers (=Serolis ovalis, Studer); Serolis paradoxa, Fabr. sp. ( = Serolis Orbigniana, M.-E.) ; Serolis schythei, Ltk.; Serolis tuberculata, Grube. There is besides a single specimen which is closely similar to the type specimens of Serolis convexa, Cunningham, preserved in the British Museum, but shows certain slight differences in which it more closely resembles Serolis plana, Dana; I am inclined to think that these two species are identical. The chief character which Grube uses to differentiate Serolis convexa from Serolis plana, and also Serolis gaudichaudii, is the presence in the former of a tuft of hairs upon the fourth joint of the second thoracic appendages. Having examined both Serolis convexa and Serolis gaudichaudii, I am able to state that it is the males only and of both these species which are thus characterized2. Serolis gaudichaudii is, however, quite a distinct species, and cannot be confounded with Serolis convexa. Besides these seven species six other species of the genus Serolis are known, viz.:-S. serrei, Lucas ; S. gaudichaudii, M.-E. ; S. carinata, Lockington; S. plana, Dana; S. trilobitoides, Eights; and S. acutangula, Grube. Of these Serolis acutangula is probably identical with some other form, since Grube, who originally described it, omits all mention of it in his subsequently published monograph of the genus; Serolis plana appears to me to present no clearly defined differences by which it can be with certainty separated from Serolis convexa ; the figure given by Eights of Serolis trilobitoides is so poor, and his description, which does not in all respects tally with the figure, so incomplete that it is uot easy to distinguish this species from Serolis cornuta, St. Further details are required concerning Serolis serrei and Serolis carinata. The total number of species of Serolis at present known with certainty is therefore eight. The nine new species in the ' Challenger' collection I propose to name as follows :- Serolis bromleyana (Suhm). Serolis elongata. Serolis neara. Serolis pallida. Serolis gracilis. Serolis longicaudata. Serolis antarctica. Serolis minuta. Serolis australiensis. 1 Published by permission of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury. 2 Since the above was written I find that Studer (Abhandl. d. Kon. Preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1883) has come to a similar conclusion. |