404 Annals of tlie South African Museum. 



brown, mottled with darker, a light circular median patch on peraeon 

 segments 5 and 6, narrowing to a median stripe on segment 7, 

 uropods handed and mottled ; young specimens usually more 

 uniform, peraeon brown, the epimera, head and pleon lighter. 



Locality : St. James and Buffels Bay (False Bay). June, 1912, 

 and 28/9/13. (K.H.B.) Sea Point, near Cape Town. November, 

 1913. (K.H.B.) 3 3 , ovigerous $ $ and young. Under stones, 

 at low-tide. (S.A.M. Nos. A2442, A2522, and A2606.) 



Geor/r. Distribution. St. Paul (M. Edwards, Heller). I have not 

 seen M. Edwards' type, but seeing that both his and Heller's speci- 

 mens came from the same locality there would seem little reason for 

 doubting that they are both the same species. The four tubercles 

 on the peraeon segments mentioned by M. Edwards are absent in 

 Heller's specimens (as in the Cape ones), but little weight can 

 be attached to this point (see P. stimpsoni for variation in respect to 

 dorsal tubercles). There is no doubt that the Cape specimens are 

 the same species as Heller's ; the only points of difference being : 

 the latter are larger, reaching 9-10 mm., the process on 7th peraeon 

 segment is of the same width throughout and ends squarely instead 

 of slightly tapering to a blunt point, the tip overhangs and is 

 hollowed beneath exactly as in the Cape specimens, there are 10 

 denticulate setae instead of 8 on the outer and middle plates of the 

 second maxilla. These slight differences can only be local variations. 



Heller seems to have made some curious mistakes in his report 

 on this species. After expressing the opinion that M. Edward-.' 

 diagnosis was " based on females only," he gives a description 

 of the male which is applicable to his fig. 9&, yet this figure is 

 labelled $ . As a matter of fact fig. 96 represents a young $ ; there 

 are no $ $ at all amongst Heller's material. One of the bottles 

 contains 5 juv. $ 3 labelled " 3 ", the other contains 1 adult 3 

 and fragments labelled " ? ". Fig. 9 is correctly labelled 3 , but 

 does not truly represent the terminal slit and foramen. 



I have some little doubt as to whether these two species should 

 be regarded as congeneric. Besides the presence of a process on 

 the 7th paraeon segment in the 2 of stimpsoni and its absence in 

 perforatus, there is a very noticeable difference in the male stylets 

 on the 7th peraeon segments. These in stimpsoni, which I regard 

 as the genotype, are a good distance apart, whereas in perforatus 

 they are contiguous. Although this character has not yet been taken 

 into account in defining the genera of Sphaeromidae I am inclined 

 to attach a more than specific importance to it. There are at 

 least three types of male appendages in the family : (1) w r here the 



