Caprella PennantXx. 671 



Capr£lla acanthifera. 



Hab. — Devonshire, where it is not uncommon, Leach ; Berwick Bay, 

 among corallines dredged in deep water. 



Body about half an inch in length, very slender, pellucid, colourless, ex- 

 cept at the joints of the legs and the branchial lamellae, which are spotted 

 with red. Head obtuse, with a short spine on the crown pointing for- 

 wards, and two less ones behind. Eyes round, scarlet. Superior antennae 

 as long as the body, the last joint bristled with very short ciliae ; inferior 

 antennae half the length of the superior. First pair of hands small ; the 

 second much larger, ovate, obtuse, serrulate on the inner edge, with a 

 tooth-like process at the base, and armed with a powerful claw ; the joints 

 of the wrist are short, the brachial one lengthened. The three hinder 

 joints of the body are each furnished with a pair of slender legs, the tarsus 

 of which is slightly curved, finely serrulated and grooved on the inner 

 edge for the reception of the claw, which, when closed, meets a tooth near 

 the base of the joint. 



Dr. Fleming thinks it probable that this is merely a variety of C. 

 Phasma, which, he says, " is subject to considerable variation in the num- 

 ber and position of the spines, and the hairiness of the different parts." — 

 In conquence of this remark, I have been induced to consider the C. line- 

 aris of Leach as probably a variety of the C. acanthifera. In addition to 

 the character quoted above, Dr. Leach adds, " colour, when alive, brown, 

 inclining to cinereous, beautifully spotted with rust colour." 



3. C. Ptnn&ntW. — " Back without spines ; anterior part 

 of the head produced into a spine. Hands of the second pair 

 of feet with one tooth." Leach, in Edin. Encyc, vii. 404?. — 

 C. acutifrons Desm., Crust., 277.; Stark., Elem,, ii. 172. — 

 Cancer A'tomos Stew., Elem., ii. 317. — ^4'stacus A'tomos P^w., 

 Brit. Zool., iv. pi. 13. fig. 2. edit. 1812, very bad. 



Hab. — Common on the Devonshire coast, Leach. 



Montagu (Lin. Trans. , vii. 68. note *) and Dr. Fleming have conjectured 

 that this may be another variety of C. Phasma, but, if not a good species, 

 it is more likely to belong to the following. Pennant's figure gives us no 

 assistance, and the species for which it was intended must ever remain in 

 uncertainty. The following description of C. Pennantii is translated from 

 Desmarest : — " Head oval, pointed in front; inferior antennae very much 

 ciliated; body even, its first segment cylindrical, not larger than the head, 

 giving origin anteriorly to the second pair of feet, which are short." 



4. C. linearis. — Head very obtuse in front, smooth : body 

 smooth : inferior antennae ciliated with long hairs : hands of 



