542 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



other Epicarids, the species shows marked sexual dimorphism. The 

 male is very diminutive in comparison with the female, and very different 

 in appearance. The female is found attached, by means of its prehensile 

 legs, to the anterior part of the dorsal surface of the metasome of its 

 host. It is in contact with the host by the entire extent of its own 

 dorsal metasome surface. Consequently, all the prehensile legs are more 

 or less twisted and dorsally directed. The marked concavity of the 

 dorsal surface is due to the mode of attachment. All the females were 

 found with the head directed backward in relation to the host's body. 

 The male is usually found clinging to the metasome of the female in the 

 manner of a parasite. It has a thick oblong body of a white colour, and 

 the total leugth is about 3 * 2 mm. as compared with 8 ■ 5-12 mm. in the 

 female. The brood-chamber of the adult female contained larvae in the 

 m icron i scu s-stage . 



Indo-Pacific Stomatopoda.* — Stanley Kemp gives a systematic 

 account of species of Squilla, Pseudosquilla, Lysiosquilla, Goronida, 

 Odontodactylus, and Gonodactylus. As of importance in classification 

 may be noted the various carina? of the carapace, abdomen, and telson ; 

 the form of the eye, e.g. the relation of the corneal and peduncular 

 axes ; and the presence or absence of the mandibular palp, and the 

 number of its segments. Stomatopods are burrowers, but not fossorial 

 in the sense in which this term is generally used among the Decapoda. 

 The curious form and geniculation of the second maxillipedes must be 

 admirably suited to an animal which lies in wait for its prey at the 

 mouth of a burrow, while the small carapace and loose segmentation of 

 the body somites enable it to reverse its position in a narrow tunnel 

 without difficulty. The peculiarly modified branchial system is also in 

 all probability an adaptation to this special mode of life, and it may be 

 noticed that among the Decapoda the attachment of the branchial plumes 

 to the swimmerets is known in one aberrant genus, Gallianidea, the 

 species of which also appear to make burrows. The author regards the 

 Stomatopoda as a lateral offshoot from the main stem of the Malaco- 

 straca ; but the precise affiliation remains obscure. 



Entomostraca from Durban Bay\f--G-. Stewardson Brady reports 

 on some pelagic Entomostraca collected by J. Y. Gibson in Durban 

 Bay. It appears that the Crustacean plankton of that region has not 

 hitherto been at all carefully examined. A new form, Aphelura typica, 

 g. et sp. n., which resembles an immature stage of some Pontellid, is 

 described. The body is somewhat tapered in front ; the forehead is 

 produced into a sharply bifurcate rostrum ; the urosome in the male is 

 three-jointed, in the female two-jointed ; the anterior antennas are 

 shorter than the metasome, with twelve to fourteen (?) joints ; the 

 posterior antennas, mandibles, and maxillas are as in Pontella ; the outer 

 branches of the first four pairs of swimming feet are composed of two 

 joints, the inner branches of one joint only ; the fifth pair are absent in 

 the female ; they are cylindrical, rudimentary, composed of two joints, 



* Mem. Indian Museum, iv. (1913) pp. 1-217 (10 pis.). 



f Ann. Durban Museum, i. (1914) pp. 1-9 (4 pis.) and 25-8 (2 pis.). 



