Chilton. — On New Zealand Frcslmater Crayfish. 241 



from Nelson ; but I have never heard of it occurring in the 

 southern part of the South Island. 



It was therefore to be anticipated that specimens of Para- 

 7ie2?hro2)s found north of the dividing-Hne mentioned by Pro- 

 fessor Hutton would, like those from Nelson, belong to 

 P. planifrons rather than to P. neo-zelanicus. To test this I 

 applied to Mr. J. Eutland and Mr. E. Helms, and these 

 gentlemen very kindly supplied me with specimens from 

 Pelorus Eiver and Greymouth respectively. These specimens, 

 though to some extent intermediate, like those from Nelson, 

 are without the characteristic tuft of hairs found in P. neo- 

 zelanicus, and therefore belong, as I had anticipated, to 

 P. planifrons, the North Island species. 



The crayfish seem to be very widely distributed over all 

 the different parts of New Zealand. Of P. 2^^'^nifrons I have 

 specimens from Karaka, Manukau Harbom-; Puriri Creek, 

 Thames ; Lake Eoto-iti ; Napier ; Wellington ; Nelson ; 

 Pelorus Eiver ; and Greymouth : and of P. neo-zelanicus from 

 various streams in North Canterbury, from Oamaru, and from 

 Dunedin. I have also heard of it from Southland and various 

 portions of the interior of Otago, and Mr. G. M. Thomson has 

 taken it in Stewart Island and in the western tributaries of 

 the "Waiau, in the south-west part of Otago. 



A freshwater crayfish belonging to the same genus as those 

 of New Zealand — Paranephrops — is said to be found in Fiji, 

 and is mentioned by Professor Huxley in " The Crayfish," 

 p. 313, and also in his paper in the " Proceedings of the Zoologi- 

 cal Society,". 1878, p. 770. In " The Crayfish," p. 313, he states 

 that " considering their wide separation by sea, the amount of 

 resemblance between the New Zealand and the Fiji specimens 

 is very remarkable." As this fact is of some importance in 

 connection with the question of the origin of the New Zea- 

 land fauna, I have in several ways endeavoured to get speci- 

 mens from Fiji for comparison with those of New Zealand, 

 but as yet I have been unable to hear of any one in Fiji who 

 would collect them for me. It appears that the statement 

 that Parancphrops is found in Fiji rests on two speci- 

 mens in the British Musemn, and I notice that Professor 

 W. Faxon suggests that the locality-labels are perhaps 

 erroneous.''' 



Before proceeding to give detailed descriptions of P. p^lani- 

 frons and P. neo-zelanicus, I desire to take this opportunity of 

 thanking those friends who have kindly provided me with 

 material— \dz., Mr. T. F. Cheeseman, Auckland ; Mr. A. 

 Hamilton, Napier; Mr. T. W. Kirk, WeUington ; the late 

 Mr. J. C. Gully, Nelson ; Mr. J. P. Grossman, Christ- 



" Eevision of the Astacidse," part i., p. 2 (footnote). 



