CRUSTACEA. 403 



FAM. 



ALAUNA GOODSIRI * 



PLATE XXXIV., fig. 2. 

 Rostro recto, segmentis abdominis angulatis. 



" In the thirteenth volume of the ' Annales des Sciences 

 Naturelles,' Dr. Milne Edwards described a small crustacean 

 under the name of Cuma Audouinii ; but in his ' Histoire 

 Naturelle des Crustaces/ he expresses his doubt whether this 

 little animal be anything more than the larva of a decapodous 

 form, and places it amongst other doubtful examples, in an 

 Appendix. 



"In 1843, however, Mr. Harry Goodsir published, in the 

 ( Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal/ a very full and clear 

 description of this and two other species of Cuma and of two 

 allied species, which he considered as the types of two new 

 genera, to Avhich he gives the names respectively of Alauna 

 and Bodotria. The whole of these I have ventured to con- 

 sider, provisionally, as constituting a small family, probably 

 belonging to the lower Decapoda, which appears also to be Mr. 

 Goodsir's own opinion, though expressed with doubt, in which 

 doubt I entirely agree. This author satisfactorily determined 

 that they are perfectly developed animals, and not mere 

 larvse." f 



Such is a succinct account of what was known respecting 

 the little animals which I ventured to consider as constituting 

 the family CUMAD^E, but the details of their structure given 

 by Mr. Goodsir afforded very imperfect grounds for judging 

 of their real position in the Class. 



* It is with a melancholy sense of duty that I dedicate this species 

 to the lamented naturalist, whose untimely fate is connected with the 

 saddest associations ; and this feeling is enhanced by the recollection 

 of that remarkable zeal and talent by which he was distinguished, and 

 from which, had he been spared, results the most important to the 

 extension of natural science might have been anticipated. 



f Bell's Brit. Crust., p. 321. 



