156 RECORDS OF THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM. 



Cancellus typtis, M. Edw., affords another instance of a similar 

 kind. This species was described* without a definite habitat, but 

 a few years ago it was found in South Australia, and shortly after- 

 wards also in Port Jackson. f 



The habits and exact zone inhabited by this Scyllarus are 

 unknown. It is, however, probable that it lives close in shore, at 

 a considerable depth below the tide line, a region that has been 

 little explored, having a distinct fauna which has yielded many 

 new or rare forms, a few of which may be here noted : — 



Tropidostethus rhothophilus, Ogilby, a small fish of the family 

 Atherinidie, is common all the year round, and lives in the surf, 

 being rarely seen except in the white foaming water. Notwith- 

 standing its abundance, it remained unnoticed until found by the 

 writer in 1893. 



Heiniscyllium modesium, Giinther, commonly called the Blind 

 Shark, inhabits the rocky recesses immediately below the tide 

 line, and can only be obtained by fishing with a hook and line. 



A rare zoophyte, belonging to the genus Myriothela, and differing 

 little from M. phrygia, Fabr., lives on seaweeds in the same zone, 

 and until recently it had not been observed in Australian waters. 



The most remarkable example, however, is a small tubicolous 

 Amphipod, which I refer without hesitation to the genus Siphonoe- 

 ceies. This genus, according to G. O. Sars, contains but three 

 species — one arctic and two occurring on the coast of Norway. 

 Early in the present year I found a number of examples of what 

 I believe to be a fourth species, at Maroubra Bay, which had been 

 washed up from a considerable depth during a heavy gale. The 

 spot where the specimens were gathered has been my favourite 

 collecting ground for many years, although I never met with the 

 species before, and have since carefully searched the locality without 

 avail. I am of opinion that this species lives in that intermediate 

 zone which is out of reach from the shore at tlie lowest tides, and 

 too rocky and inaccessible to the trawl or dredge. Occasionally 

 at certain seasons, denizens of this region wander about the spring 

 tide line, and may at such times be captured. As an instance, 

 mention may be made of the rare and curious Isopod, Amphoroidea 

 australiensis, Dana, a species of an olive-green colour like the 

 plants upon which it feeds, and to which it clings so tenaciously 

 that it can only be removed with difficulty. A single example was 

 found on a loose piece of seaweed at Maroubra Bay in May, 1896. 

 It was afterwards searched for in vain during my weekly visits, 

 and was not met with again until December, 1898, when about 

 fifty examples were obtained, and in January of the present year 



* Milne-Edwards— Hist. Nat. Crust., ii., 1837, p. 243. 

 t See List of Invertebrate Fauna — Proc. Roy. Soc. N. S. W., xxiii., 

 1889, p. 232. 



