246 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. xxvi. 



for the individual. The natural inference is that the young- indi- 

 viduals of the species having- large eggs and few in number, do not 

 encounter the dangers which must be common to the species having 

 numerous eggs, and, as a matter of fact, it can hardly be supposed 

 that a Galaccmtha or a Mwndapsis, blind and with limited activity, 

 passes an eventful life on the soft bottom of the deep sea. 



Another matter worthy of consideration is that where the brood is 

 small and matures near the parent it is not liable afterwards to become 

 greatl}'^ scattered, a fact which would be expected to aid in the form- 

 ation of I'aces and species in the same way that it is known to have 

 done in the cases of nonmigrating birds inhabiting- islands or other 

 isolated localities. And here it may be remarked that little is known 

 of the range of any species in the deep sea. Onl}" a beginning has 

 been made. A dredging station here and there shows a few of the 

 forms of life which the dredge chances to bring up from a \Q,rj limited 

 area. Until the sea bottom has been examined to a very much greater 

 extent it would seem l)etter to hold that distinguishable specimens 

 from distant places represent distinct species rather than subspecies. 



In sharp contrast with those Crustaceans which have few eggs and 

 live under conditions where the individual must l)e better cared for 

 are those having an immense number of eggs, as, for instance, some 

 of the shallow-water Rrachyura, in which the bulging- egg-mass is but 

 partly covered by the abdomen, and nearly equals the body of the crab 

 in size. Here the eggs are minute and when hatched become free 

 swimming and are carried by the currents to distant places to live or 

 die, as the place proves suitable or not. This effort of nature is par- 

 alleled by the forest tree which yields seed, season after season, during 

 a long lifetime and perhaps dies without leaving a single descendant. 

 But if this effort has not greatly increased the individuals of the 

 species in question, it has always been ready to do so if opportunity 

 offered, and in the meantime has helped to sustain the life of myriads 

 of other living things. 



In this paper 45 species are described as new. The keys to the 

 species were made to include all the Galatheids in the U. S. National 

 Museum. Following the descriptions a list of the known species, with 

 partial synon^^my, has been given. 



DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW SPECIES. 

 Genus GALATHEA Fabricius. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES OF GALATHEA EXAMINED. 



a. With only two spines or tubercles on the front of the gastric area. 



h. Hands without spines except on the margins Hquamifera, p. 303 



h. Hands with spines on the palm, 

 c. Three pairs of spines on the rostrum beyond the basal pair. 

 (1. Row of four or five spines on the palm. 



e. Palm wide titrigosa, p. .303 



