264 

 i. Pontophilus occidentalis Faxon, var. indica de Man. PI. XX and XXI, Fig. 63 — 63 v. 



Pontophilus occidentalis Fax. var. indica J. G. de Man, in: Zoolog. Mededeelingen, uitgegeven 

 vanwege 's Rijks Museum van Natuurlijke Historie te Leiden, 1918, Deel IV, Afl. 3, p. 161. 



Confcr: Pontophilus occidentalis W. Faxon: in: Memoirs Museum Comp. Zoology, Vol. XVIII, 

 Cambridge 1895, p. 131, PI. D, fig. 2 — ld. 



Stat. 45. April 6. 7 24' S., n8°is'.2E. Flores Sea. 794 m. Bottom fine grey mud, with 



some radiolariae and diatomes. 1 young and 2 adult ova-bearing females. 

 Stat. 88. June 20. o°34'.6N., U9°8'.5E. Northern part of the Strait of Makassar. 1301.n1. 



Bottom fine grey mud. 2 females. 

 Stat. 178. Sept. 2. 2°4o'S., I28°37'.5 E. Ceram Sea. 835 m. Bottom blue mud. 1 young female. 

 Stat. 211. Sept. 25. 5°4o'.7S., I20°45'.5 E. East of Saleyer Island. 1158 m. Bottom coarse 



grey mud, superficial layer more liquid and brown. 1 young female. 

 Stat. 300. January 30, 1900. io°48'.6S.' I23°23'.i E. South of Rotti island. 918 m. Bottom fine, 



grey mud. 1 male. 

 Stat. 316. Febr. 19, 1900. 7 19'. 4 S., ii6°49'.5E. Bali Sea. 538 m. Bottom fine, dark brown 



sandy mud. 2 young and 4 adult, egg-bearing females. 



PonlopJiilus gracilis S. I. Smith, abyssi S. I. Smith, Challengeri Ortm., junceus Bate, 

 profundus Bate, occidentalis Faxon and this new variety indica form together a group of very 

 closely related species, some of which will perhaps prove after future investigations to be geo- 

 graphical races of one widely distributed form, as was already suggested by W. Faxon (1. c). 

 The 14 specimens, collected by the "Siboga", seem also to render probable this supposition, 

 because in some details they vary rather much. Unfortunately a detailed description of Pont. occiden- 

 talis exists, properly speaking, not, for Faxon confined himself to indicating only the differences 

 between his species from the Gulf of Panama and two others, Pont. abyssi S. I. Smith and 

 Challengeri Ortm. Xevertheless the present specimens are referred to Pont. occidentalis, though 

 as a new variety, which is characterized by its much smaller size and by the anterior 

 of the two median spines on the gastric region being considerably smaller than the 

 posterior and usually of a microscopical size. 



The 6 females from Stat. 3 1 6 are considered as the typical representatives of this new variety 

 indica. In the adult females from this Station the rostrum (Fig. 63 d, 63/, 63^) is obliquely 

 directed upward and appears straight in a lateral view, excepting in one specimen where it is 

 distinctly curved; the rostrum, which, when looked at from above, appears as long as the eyes or 

 but little shorter, has a rather si en der form, being more than four times (4,5; 5,6; 6) as 

 long as broad, the greatest breadth being the distance between the apices of the lateral teeth 

 of the posterior pair. The rostrum is armed on its proximal half with two pairs of small, i. e. 

 little prominent teeth, excepting in one ova-bearing specimen, in which on the left side 3 teeth 

 are observed, on the right only one, the posterior, and a young female, in which the rostrum 

 has on the left side one, on the right two teeth. In one of the two ova-bearing females from 

 Stat. 45 the rostrum, obliquely directed upward and distinctly' curved in a lateral aspect, reaches 

 hardly beyond the middle of the eyes and has a less slender form than in the specimens from 

 Stat. 316, the rostrum being only 3,4-times as long as broad; in the other ova-bearing specimen 

 from Stat. 45 the rostrum (Fig. 63//) appears comparatively still broader, only 2,8-times as long 

 as broad, though as long as in the former; it is here hardly turned upward, slightly curved in 



