I. — The Amphipoda of Bermuda. 

 By B. W. KuNKEL, Ph.D. 



The Amphipoda of the Bermudas and West Indies apparently have 

 been almost entirely neglected by systematists. The only notices 

 which we have of Amphipoda from Bermuda are those of Caprella 

 danilevskii (Czerniavski, 1868), recorded by Stebbing in the " Chal- 

 lenger " Report (vol. 39, p. 1364, pi. 145), Cyamns fascicularis 

 (Verrill, 1903) from a sperm whale captured off Bermuda and ex- 

 hibited at St. George's, and Orchestia agilis (Smith, 1873) which 

 Verrill notes as being abundant (Trans. Conn. Acad., vol. XI, p. 21—22, 

 1903). 



The greater part of the material for the present study was col- 

 lected by Prof. Verrill and parties during two expeditions to the 

 islands in the spring of 1898 and 1901, and was turned over to the 

 writer for study in the spring of 1906; besides this material, several 

 vials bore the label of G. Brown Goode, 1876—77, several that of 

 W. M. Rankin, 1898, and one vial was received from Dr. L. J. Cole, 

 dated Bermuda Biological Station, July 15, 1903. 



In general, no exact data regarding the localities and surrounding 

 conditions were recorded, but where such are known due reference 

 will be made to them. The collecting by Verrill was done in shallow 

 water along the shore, at most in only a few fathoms, and nearly 

 all the forms are shallow water species. 



The most striking peculiarity of the Amphipodous fauna of Ber- 

 muda is its close relationship to that of the Mediterranean. Of the 

 45 species recorded from Bermuda, 19, or possibly 20, of them 

 occur also in the Mediterranean, and nearly all of these are abundant 

 in European waters. Eighteen of these 45 species are peculiar to 

 Bermuda and only 7 species which are not endemic, are not found 

 also in the Mediterranean. Thus nearly ^25 or 44*^/0, of the known 

 species of Bermuda Amphipoda are Mediterranean. In contrast 

 to the richness of European forms the 9 species common to South 

 and Central American shores is striking, especially in view^ of the 

 fact that 93 ^{^ of the Decapod Crustacea of Bermuda have been re- 

 corded from the Florida Keys and the West Indies (Verrill, Trans. 

 Conn. Acad., vol. XIII, p. 452, 1908). This paucity of forms from 

 Central and South America probably has little significance, however, 



