fgoS. Pack-Bkresford. — Eliuna picrpurascens. 257 



until I was struck by the very uniform brown cplour in so 

 man}^ specimens that I exsmined one with a lens, when its 

 distinct character at once became apparent. The younger the 

 ■specimen the paler the colour, and I found many very young 

 specimens that were pure white. 



The measurements given correspond very well to the 

 majority of specimens, but I found a good number which were 

 considerably larger, being as much as 12 mm. in length, 

 5 mm. in width, and 3 mm. in height. 



I was under the impression when I first found it that this 

 was a shore haunting species, as I took it in such numbers 

 amonge-t the shingle and debris at the base of the cliffs in 

 compau}^ with Ligia oceanica. Philoscia Couchii, and Po7'cellio 

 scaber Subsequently, however, I found it extended all up the 

 cliffs, and even as high on the hill as above the Baily Post 

 Office, and I have since learnt that in the Island of Tenerifife 

 it is found at a height of 800 metres. 



The chief interest I think in finding a species of this sort, 

 which is evidently a wanderer far from its original home, is 

 to stud}^ its present distribution in the worlds and to draw 

 what inferences one can. 



Prof. Budde-Lund, in his work already referred to, gives the 

 following localities. He saj'S : — " This species is commonest 

 in the Island of Madeira." " I have seen some from Caj-enne, 

 taken by Don Gelski." " Two specimens taken by Prof. 

 Reinhardt, in the Island of Nicobar, and described b}' CL 

 Kroyer, under the name of Armadillidiicni piirptirasceiis are 

 preserved in the Museum at Copenhagen." 



M. Adrien Dollfus refers to the curious distribution of 

 E. purpurascens in many of his papers on Woodlice. 



In a paper on the terrestrial Isopods of North Africa\ 

 published in 1896, where he records the finding of this species 

 in Algeria, he says: — "Recognisable at once by its single- 

 lens eye, Eluma pitrpitrascens has a considerable Atlantic dis- 

 tribution. The centre is vvithout doubt the Islands of the 

 Azores, Madeira, and the Canaries, but it is found again so far 

 awa}^ as Cayenne," 



■■ A. Doivi<FUS. " Les Isopodes terrestres dn Nord de I'Afrique du Cap 

 Blanc a TripoH." Mem. Soc, Zool. Frame, vol. ix., 1906, p. 528. 



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