228 LIVERPOOL MARINE BIOLOGY COMMITTEE REPORT. 



previous records ; but these records are widely scattered, and 

 not all available. The more important of the references are 

 given below, under the head of the species to which they refer. 



Some specimens, found both off the Isle of Man and off 

 Puffin Island, have the characteristics of Mr. H. Goodsir's 

 Pephredo hirsuta, a species which has never been sufficiently 

 described. On account, however, of the uncertainty as to 

 the exact characters of Goodsir's species, it is deemed better 

 to place the specimens provisionally under the title of 

 '* Nymphon gracile,'' a species to which they are at least 

 closely allied. 



Some of the specimens of Pycnogonids collected had 

 masses of ova, or embryos, attached, all apparently in a 

 very early stage of development. 



It is to be hoped that the investigations of the Liverpool 

 Marine Biology Committee, during the coming summer, may 

 lead to the acquisition of a larger number of specimens 

 belonging to this interesting but obscure group. The British 

 Pycnogonida seem to be still very imperfectly known. They 

 require to be thoroughly examined, the species in some 

 cases re- described and figured, and the synonymy cleared up. 

 This, however, cannot be satisfactorily done until a consider- 

 able collection has been obtained. 



In the arrangement and nomenclature of species, I have 

 followed Hoek's Keport upon the " Challenger" Pycnogonida 

 {Zool. Chall. Exp.f Part x, 1881). The four families 

 recognised by Hoek (Nymphonidae, Colossendeidae, Palle- 

 nidae, and Phoxichilidse). are all represented in the Liverpool 

 Bay collection. 



Family I. — Nymphonid^. 



Nymphon gracile (?), Leach. 



Nymphon gracile, Leach, Zool. Misc., vol. i, p. 45, 1814; 

 Hoek, " Challenger" Report, p. 20. 



This species is recorded by Mr. Byerley as being in most 



