THE SPECIES OF AEGLA — SCHMITT 437 



Heller's report (1868, p. 81) on the Novara Crustacea has A. laevis 

 as being represented in the material collected in "Chili." Up to and 

 including Heller's report, Aegla had been recorded only from Chile. 



The very first records from any other part of South America are 

 those of von Martens (1868, p. 26; 1869, p. 14). He had specimens 

 from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, Rodersberg, and Porto Alegre, some 

 of which had been collected as early as 1831. Unless specimens are 

 extant and in good condition, it will be impossible to determine just 

 what von Martens, or, indeed, almost every other author cited in this 

 paper, took to be A. laevis. 



The next record from Brazil is that of Fritz Miiller (1876, p. 13). 

 He described a unique species from the Serra do Mar, between the 

 headwaters of the Itajahy and the Rio das Marombas, in the State 

 of Santa Catharina, under the name of A. odehrechtii. His species, 

 like A. denticulata^ by virtue of its illustration and excellent descrip- 

 tion, was easily recognizable on rediscovery (see Moreira, 1901 ; p. 439 

 of this resume ; also p. 431 above) . 



This same year Lucas (1876, p. ex) announced the discovery of 

 A. '''■laevis^'' in Argentina from the Rio de la Plata. He said that 

 on the tidal flats of the estuary, which are exposed at low tide, and 

 where the water is quite fresh because of the great distance from the 

 sea, this crustacean is found in prodigious numbers under slightly 

 embedded rocks, shingle, pebbles, remains of shells, and detritus of 

 all kinds, and that it is much sought after for food by the inhabitants, 

 with whom, in this part of South America, it occupies the place held 

 by the crayfish in Europe. Some time later (1891, p. Ixxxix), Lucas 

 received specimens from the Rio Mendoza in the Argentine Cor- 

 dillera at an elevation of from 1,800 to 2,000 meters. 



Scarcely six months thereafter Wierzejski (1892, p. 15 [1893, p. 

 232, 243]) obtained A. Haevis^'' from the environs of the city of 

 Mendoza, in the province of the same name. Wierzejski's paper, 

 perhaps because it was published in Polish, escaped notice until he 

 (1897, p. 1) furnished a German translation of the portion dealing 

 with Aegla^ in order to correct Nobili's impression (1896) (below, 

 p. 438) of being the first to report Aegla from the Argentine. Wier- 

 zejski's remarks, in part, are here translated again, this time some- 

 what freely into English: "Associated with [the fresh-water amphi- 

 pod] Hyalella inermis in one of the streams discharging from one 

 of the larger lagunas in the vicinity of [the city of] Mendoza. In 

 life apparently dark blue; alcoholic specimens are dorsally bluish 

 gray, ventrally reddish. So far as I can ascertain from the de- 

 scription of Professor Martens, there are no appreciable differences 

 between the Argentine form and those from Chile and Brazil which 

 were described by Milne-Edwards and Dana. The largest specimens 

 measure 7 cm. in length and 1.7 cm. in width ; the natives gather this 



