KEPORT ON THE AMPHIPODA. xxi 



revive Leach's origiual Ampithoe, and that in pedantically printing Caprella equilihra, 

 Say, instead of Spence Bate's Caprella iequilihra, my object has been much more 

 to emphasize the general view here advocated than to make converts to the use of that 

 particular illustration of it. The custom of changing the gender of specific names, when 

 species are transferred from genus to genus, seems to me inconvenient and unnatural. 

 In every species of the Amphipoda there are males and females, and since the ungallant 

 Romans imagined the masculine to be the worthier gender, it would tend to simplicity 

 if that gender were preferred in the formation of all specific names. Changing the 

 masculine ending into a feminine, to match the nominal sex of the genus, is much like 

 saying that a man must be a woman if his parents have happened to christen him Maria. 



The pronunciation of the names used in natural history is of comparatively little 

 importance, since they are so much more frequently read by the eye than j^ronounced by 

 the tongue. Nevertheless, it would be an advantageous custom if authors, when intro- 

 ducing a new name, would supply their readers with some means of determining the quan- 

 tity of a doubtful syllable. In pronouncing long-established names, such as Gammarina, 

 Caprellina, Hyperina, where the derivation will not help us, we must be guided either by 

 usage which may fluctuate, or by euphony in respect of which tastes may differ, or by 

 the genius of our own language which is pretty sure to prevail in the end. In the three 

 examples cited, my own opinion is, that the penultimate syllable ought to be pronounced 

 short, the accent being in each case laid upon the ante-penultimate. Although the Greek 

 word vnepLvos, so accented and having a short penultimate syllable, has nothing to do 

 with our Hyperina, yet the mere existence of such a word proves that there is nothing 

 monstrous in the pronunciation now recommended. 



Distribution. — How very extensive is the range of the Amphipoda may partly be 

 seen by a glance at the map accompanying this Eeport. Northward, Amphipoda have 

 been taken within 400 miles of the pole ; in the opposite direction as far down as lat. 

 68° S. Of the great depths from which some of the Challenger Amphipoda are reported 

 I do not like to speak with too much certainty, but there is no special reason for doubt- 

 ing that Lanceola pacijica, for instance, came actually from the depth assigned it of 

 2300 fathoms. It does not seem unnatural that some of the group should have been 

 able to penetrate even to so great a depth as 13,800 feet beneath the surface of the sea, 

 since on the continent of South America Mr. Whymper has found them at 13,300 feet 

 above it. All the waters of the world, arctic and tropical, salt, brackish and fresh, oceans, 

 lakes, rivers and wells, are tenanted by AmphijDoda. From the rocks and sands and 

 muddy fringes of coast and shore they are pushing out advanced guards in a sort of 

 tentative manner on to the land, where, for ought we know, they may yet have a great 

 future before them. That they have thriven so well hitherto may be attributed to 

 various advantages, chiefly perhaps to their ready adaptability to so many varying 

 circumstances. Diminutive size and mimetic colouring will' often have helped to protect 



