| OCR Text |
Show 1903.] IN THE ‘ CHALLENGER ' COLLECTION. 57 rostrum is rather long, directed forwards and considerably upwards; its terminal portion is produced into a spiniform process, and the upper margin of the rostrum has at the base of that process a sharp angle as a rudiment of a spine ; the lower margin of the rostrum between its base and the apical spine is strongly convex, the upper margin nearly straight. Supra-ocular and hepatic spines are wanting, the gastro-hepatic groove slightly developed. The eyes are large, considerably depressed ; seen from the side (fig. 4 a), they are somewhat longer than the whole stalk ; seen from above, their basal margin is very oblique (fig. 4 b), so that the interior margin of the distal joint of the stalk is as long as the outer margin of the eyes. The antenn. ped. with the outer margin of the first joint is a little longer than that of the two other joints together, and only a little shorter than their inner margin; the second joint with the inner margin is three times longer than the breadth, and somewhat longer than the third joint, which is about two and a half times longer than broad. The antennal squama reaches nearly to the end of the antenn. ped., with its distal portion broad and the outer spine well developed. Mxp.3 is a little shorter than trl.2 The branchiae present a transition-form between those of S. arcticus Kr. (PI. X II . fig. 1 c) and S. robustus Smith; the pleurobranchial lamella above mxp.2 is very small. Of the branchiae above trl.3, br.1 is scarcely two-thirds as long as br. ; of those belonging to trl.4, br. is slightly longer than br.1, and br.1 a little shorter than br} above til.3 The ext. br. of urp. is almost five times longer than broad, and the hairy portion of its outer margin is a little more than one-fourth of the total length.- Length 36*5 mm. This species occupies an intermediate position between S. arcticus Kr. and S. robustus Smith. Bate's fig. 4, showing an antennule and an eye, is misleading, the antennular peduncle being too slender, with the basal joint too short, the third joint too long. Serg. jAroNicus Bate, p. 387, pi. lxx. figs. 1, 2. Bate enumerates three specimens from two localities : Stat. 232, lat. 35° 11' N., long. 139° 28' E., 345 fathoms; and Stat. 207, lat. 12° 21' N., long. 122° 15' E., 700 fathoms. All have been preserved, and belong to one species. In 1896 I wrote that S. japonicus Bate must be identical with S. mollis Smith (taken in the Atlantic, off the United States), and gave reasons for my view. On comparing Bate's specimens with Smith's elaborate description (Rep. U.S. Comm. Fish & Fisher, for 1882, p. 419, 1884) and his figures (Rep. U.S. Comm. Fish &c. for 1885, pi. xx. fi^s. 3-5), I arrived at the same result. It should be especially mentioned that an examination of the branchiae showed the most complete agreement with Smith's description and drawing. For full information on S. japonicus Bate, I refer, therefore, zoologists to the papers of Smith. As already mentioned, I found in the bottle with S. japonicus from Stat. 232 a tube containing a smaller animal determined |
