9 o ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



Copepoda." Geisbrecht 1 in 1882 pointed out some of the 

 doubtful characters in the description of this species in both 

 the works named, but he apparently failed to realise the 

 important significance of the characters he had called in 

 question. In a capital work by Dr. Eugene Canu lately 

 published, entitled " Les Copepodes du Boulonnais," that 

 author again calls in question the accuracy of the description 

 of Longipedia coronata in these same two monographs, but 

 ascribes the error, in the one case to a young male having 

 been described for an adult, and in the other case to a 

 misunderstanding as to the sexes. The following are Dr. 

 Canu's remarks : " Formes jeunes tres frequentes et peut-etre 

 plus nombreuses dans une meme peche que les adultes ; ce 

 que pourrait expliquer les meprises faites par Claus (jeune o 

 decrit pour l'adulte) et Brady (confusion entre les deux sexes 

 9 immatures) et relevees par Geisbrecht." 2 Dr. Canu has 

 thus evidently missed the true explanation of the difference 

 between the so called " male " and " female " forms ; at least 

 so far as regards the description of Longipedia in " British 

 Copepoda." 



A short time ago one of the writers of the present 

 remarks (Andrew Scott), while examining a quantity of 

 material dredged in Largo Bay, Firth of Forth, in 1891, 

 observed as usual both forms of Longipedia coronata — i.e. 

 " males " and " females " ; he also observed that some of the 

 " males " carried one ovisac ! and one or two of the " females ' : 

 two ovisacs ! This discovery naturally led to further inquiry 

 being made, with the result that two distinct species of 

 Copepoda were found to have been mixed up under the one 

 name, the so-called " male " being the true " female " of the 

 Longipedia, while the so-called " female " was found to be the 

 female of a new and distinct species, for which we have had 

 to provisionally institute a new genus. Both males and 

 females of this new species have now been obtained. A pre- 

 liminary description of the true Longipedia coronata and of the 

 new species is given below. Full descriptions (with drawings) 

 are being prepared for the Annual Report of the Fishery 

 Board for Scotland, to be published during the summer. 



1 "Die freilebenden Copepoden der Kieler Fohrde." 



2 "Les Copepodes du Boulonnais" (1892), p. 146. 



