61 



Fam. 3. Buproridae. 



Remarks. This very distinct family, established by Thorell, only comprises 

 as yet a single genus, the characters of which are given below. 



Gen. 10. Buprorus, Thorell, 1859. 



Generic Characters. Body short and stout, unsegmented, and only com- 

 posed of head and trunk, the tail being wholly obliterated or only present as 

 a trifling rudiment. Ripe ova received into a roomy incubatory cavity formed 

 by the dorsal and lateral walls of the trunk in almost its entire extent, Anterior 

 antennae short and stout, with the number of joints much reduced. Posterior 

 antennae not prehensile, the terminal joint being only provided with simple 

 spines, none of which is unguiform. Oral parts of rather simple structure, 

 though apparently well adapted for mastication. The 4 anterior pairs of legs 

 poorly developed, with the rami short and stout, armed at the end with short 

 spines, the outer one biartieulate, the inner one uniarticulate. Last pair of 

 legs forming 2 simple conical prominences tipped with a few small spines. 



Remarks. This genus exhibits some very extraneous characters, by which 

 it seems to distinguish itself very sharply from any of the other genera com- 

 prised within the present division of Copepoda, and Thorell was certainly 

 quite right in regarding it as the type of a very distinct family. He was indeed 

 of opinion that this family was even more distinct than his family Ascidicolida?, 

 which latter he merely regarded as a subfamily of the Notodelphyidce. Yet, 

 on a closer examination, it will be found, that the present genus agrees with 

 those treated of in the preceding pages at least in one very essential character, 

 viz., in the presence of an incubatory cavity for the reception of the ripe ova. 

 Such a cavity, on the other hand, does not exist either in the Ascidicolidw or 

 in the other families treated of in the sequel, the ova pured out from the 

 ovarial tubes being here, as in most other Copepoda, accumulated in free 

 ovisacs appended to the body. The reception of the genus Enterocola within 

 the family Buproridce, as proposed by Brady, cannot therefore by any means 

 be admitted. The present genus as yet only comprises a single species, to 

 be described below. 



