734 



THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 



First pair of antennae having the first joint deeply excavate, and the outer 

 flagellum very robust. 



Second pair of antennae having a long and pointed scaphocerite and a long slender 

 flagellum. 



None of the other appendages afford any character of specific value. 



Habitat,— Station 354, May 6, 1876; lat. 32° 41' N., long. 36° 6' W.; south-west of 

 the Azores; depth, 1675 fathoms; bottom, Globigerina ooze; bottom temperature, 37°"8. 

 One specimen ; male. Type. 



Station 40, April 28, 1873 ; lat. 34° 51' N., long. 68° 30' W.; north-west of Bermuda ; 

 depth, 2675 fathoms ; bottom, blue mud. One specimen. Dredged. 



Station 87, July 21, 1873 ; lat. 25° 49' N., long. 20° 12' W.; off the Canary Islands ; 

 depth, 1675 fathoms; bottom, rock. One specimen. Dredged. 



The label attached to one of the specimens says "deep haul, 6th May, 1876, Atlantic," 

 and since the date corresponds with that of Station 354, there can be no doubt it was 

 there obtained. The specimen is beautifully preserved both in form and colour, the 

 latter being of a rich crimson-lake, which suffuses every part of the animal. The hairs 

 which fringe the legs are long, delicate, and generally planted perpendicularly to the 

 surface. There can be no doubt, I think, that it is the same species as that described by 

 Mr. Sidney Smith as Miersia agassizii. When Kingsley changed the name of Roux's genus 

 Epliyra into Miersia, he pronounced it to be a genus in which the mandible had neither 

 synaphipod nor psalistoma, but since this species has both, it cannot belong to Kingsley's 

 genus, Miersia, and undoubtedly belongs to A. Milne-Edwards' genus, Acanthephyra. 



It is singular that every specimen that Mr. Sidney Smith obtained had the rostrum 

 broken off; and this is also the case with our typical specimen, and is suggestive of its 

 being very long and proportionally weak. 



The only distinction between his species and the Acanthephyra purpurea of A. Milne- 

 Edwards appears to exist in the armature of the rostrum, which Sidney Smith states has 

 seven teeth on the upper surface, and four on the lower ; but since in every specimen 

 that came under his observation the rostrum was broken, I cannot see how he was able 

 to determine either its length or the number of teeth on its surface. The ophthalmopoda 

 are short, and the ophthalmus is not large. The antennae and other appendages do not 

 offer any feature of sufficient variation to denote specific distinction. 



