REPORT ON THE AMPHIPODA. 39 



" In Mart viedifrrraneo. Mirum in suo genere Animal Oculorum forma, et Pedum numero. 

 Singularis architecturis iiihabitat domum, cutico-ventricosam, rugosam, gelatinosam, 

 rigidam, utroque extreme patulam. Hie residet inourvum, stepe situm mutans : liis cunis 

 ova deponit puUosque excludit." 



On page xxi. it is briefly described witb the words "pedibus utrinque 10; domifex." 



1775. MuLLEE, Philipp Ludwig Statius, bom 1725, died 1776 (Hagen). 



Physicalische Belustigungen oder Microscopische Wahrnelimungen in- und 

 auslandischer Wasser- und Landthierclien durch Martinus Slabber. Aus dem 

 hoUandischen ubersetzt von P. L. St. MuUer. Mit fein illuminirten Kupfertafeln. 

 Nurnberg, 1775. 



In this translation the account of Phtisica marina, i.e., Proto ventricosa, occurs on pages 41-43, 

 tab. X. fig. 1, 2. The account of Oniscns arenarius or Sandasselwurm is on pages 48-52, 

 tab. xi. fig. 3, 4. At page 52 the translator gives the follo\ving note on his own part, 

 " I cannot find the relationship of this species to either of the genera above-mentioned 

 [Squilla and Oniscus], since the remarkable structure of the feet must certainly be regarded 

 as a characteristic. And I think the author might have regarded this little animal as 

 forming a quite distinct genus, and under the name Haustorius arenarius, or Sandschopfer, 

 I would place it in a genus by itself between the Monoculi and Onisci. If it were not for 

 the absence of a carapace (Schild), I should not hesitate to place it among the Monoculi ; it 

 is best therefore to place it in a genus by itself." 



Eovallius, who adopts the name Ptenjgocera arenaria assigned to this Amphipod by Latreille, 

 after praising the figures and description of it given by the Dutch naturalist, makes the 

 following observations : — " Although appreciating its numerous peculiarities, Slabber 

 nevertheless abstained from creating a new genus for its reception, and placed it in the 

 genus Oniscus L., one of the three great Linnean genera, into which the whole of the 

 Crustaceans, known at his time, were distributed, thereby also indicating his impression 

 of its affinity to the Isopods of the present day. Statius Miiller, his German translator, 

 observed that the animal might be the type of a genus of its own, for which he proposed 

 the name Haustorius, but this appellation, being an adjective, and consequently contrariciis 

 to the rules of Linnean nomenclature, has been justly forgotten." On the other hand, I 

 venture to suggest that the reason mentioned is not sufficient to justify the rejection of 

 Haustorius in favour of Lepidactylis. 



The British Association Rules, 1878, include that against "Adjective generic names" only among 

 " Recommendations for improving the Nomenclature in future." Lepidactijlis, scale-fingered, 

 is itself an adjective. Anomjx, Euonyx, Euryienes, and many other approved names of 

 genera, are adjectives. Haustorius, on the other hand, not being an actual Latin word at 

 all, can scarcely be an adjective, while the termination -ius is kept in countenance by the 

 comparatively recent change of Calliope into Calliojmis. The excellent name Sulcator 

 might well have been allowed to stand, but since that has been displaced, on grounds of 

 priority, first by Pterygocera and then by Lepidadylis, it seems only just to go back a step 

 further to Muller's Haiistorius. 



