494 



THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 



Habitat.— Station 49, May 20, 1873; lat. 43° 3' N., long. 63° 39' W.; south of 

 Halifax, Nova Scotia ; depth, 85 fathoms ; bottom, gravel, stones ; bottom temperature, 

 35°"0. Twenty-two specimens. Both sexes ; all sizes from 20 mm. 



The Challenger specimens of this species correspond most nearly with Sidney Smith's 

 description of Sabinea sarsii, which I take to be a pronounced variety of this species rather 

 than specifically distinct. In a letter to me on the subject Mr. J. S. Kingsley of 

 Salem, in the United States, says : — " We have the same in the Museum of the Peabody 

 Academy, dredged off Salem in 90 fathoms. It differs somewhat in the shape of the 

 rostrum from Sabine's figure, and I have no opportunity of comparing it with Arctic 

 specimens. Professor Smith and I were at first inclined to call it a new species, but I 

 now consider it (and I think Professor Smith has come to the same conclusion) merely 

 a variety of Sabine's species. I find that the sternal spine varies considerably, in some 

 specimens it is sharp, while in others it is stout and obtuse." 



In our specimens the sternal tooth (PI. XC. fig. 1) is generally sharp, and in the 

 young, and in those that I take to be males, the tooth is more compressed against the 

 sternum than in the larger females. The two posterior pairs of pereiopoda on the under 

 side of the basisal joint are furnished with a small mat of hairs. The rostrum is dorsally 

 flattened posteriorly, and laterally compressed anteriorly, and the dorsal ornamentation 

 shows an approximation to that which is seen in Pontocaris. 



The pleopoda are foliaceous ; in the first pair there is a sexual modification of the 

 inner branch, which in the male (PI. XC. fig. $ lp) is reduced to a rigid flattened 

 appendage, fringed with a few short hairs, mingled with short, sharp pointed, and slightly 

 curved spines, three or four of which are situated at the inner distal extremity of the 

 basal joint ; in the female (PI. XC. fig. ? lp) the arrangement is similar, only the hairs 

 are longer and the small spine-like points are represented by long and flexible 



