PART 1 GARTH : PACIFIC OXYRHYNCHA 139 



mm, respectively. Ovigerous female from station 1498-42: length 27.5 

 mm, width 16.5 mm, rostrum 6.5 mm, cheliped 29 mm, chela 11 mm, 

 dactyl 5.5 mm, legs 42, 38.5, 35, and 33.5 mm, respectively. 



Color in life: Tan or gray, with dots and small markings of red. 

 (Way) Tan with red chelae. (Hart) 



Habitat: Among algae. (Doflein) On Zoster a marina. (Way) 

 Among eel grass. (Hart) On wharf piling. (Ricketts and Calvin) The 

 dorsum is covered with numerous hooked hairs which permit masking 

 with hydroid polyps, etc., affording the animal marked concealment. 

 (Doflein) Often adorned with sponges, algae, bryozoans, and hydroids. 

 (MacKay) Barnacle-bedecked. (Lenz) 



Depth: Shallow water to 212 fathoms. (Rathbun) Specimens exam- 

 ined came from depths of from 3 to 74 fathoms. 



Size and sex: The series at hand includes males ranging in size from 

 13.5 mm to the 60 mm specimen measured above and females ranging 

 from 11.3 to 45 mm. Ovigerous females show great disparity in size, 

 ranging from 11.3 to 44.6 mm. The largest specimen on record is the 

 65.7x39 mm male measured by Rathbun (1925). 



Breeding: Some 25 of 40 females taken in late July and 20 of 40 

 females taken in early August in the San Juan Strait-Puget Sound region 

 were gravid. Rathbun (1925) records ovigerous females from St. George 

 Island, Pribilof Islands, in May and September, from Attu Island and 

 Petrel Bank, Aleutian Islands, in June, from Cordova and Yes Bay, 

 Southeastern Alaska, in June and August, respectively, and from Comox, 

 Vancouver Island, British Columbia, in July. 



Remarks: Although writers from Stimpson (1857b) to Whiteaves 

 (1878) followed Dana (1851a) in considering Oregonia hirta to be a 

 distinct species, S. I. Smith, writing in 1880, was able to state: "The 

 series of specimens is sufficient to show that the two forms described by 

 Dana are sexual and belong to one species, the gracilis being based on the 

 adult male and the hirta on the two forms of the female." He also 

 sagaciously included O. longimana of Spence Bate in his synonymy, 

 albeit with a question mark. How widely read was Sydney Smith in his 

 day may be judged from the fact that never again was specific rank 

 accorded to either O. hirta or O. longimana. 



The exhaustive series of Oregonia gracilis from Alaska, British 

 Columbia, and Washington State (a part of Oregon Territory in the 

 time of Dana) in the collections of the U. S. National Museum (Rath- 

 bun, 1925, pp. 72-78) includes but two records from Oregon and one 

 from California. That specimens of this boreal species are included 



