532 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. 38, 



times exceeds a foot iti length. The rock crab, Grapsus, common in 

 all tropical countries, is used for bait, as are also the hippas above 

 mentioned. 



History. — The first list of Crustacea of Peru was made by Kinahan 

 and published in the .Journal of the Royal Society of Dublin, volume 

 lj 1857. It comprised only those species, 24 in number, which were 

 collected and brought home by Kinahan himself; many of the com- 

 moner forms existing on the coast were, owing to circumstances, not 

 included. Kinahan' s observations were confined to two localities, 

 Callao Roads and t he ( Ihincha Islands. Some crabs which he reported 

 as common are not included in the Coker collection, as Cancer long- 

 ipes, Panopeus crenatus, and Cyclograpsus dnereus. 



Aside from t he above-mentioned list , our knowledge of theCrustacea 

 is somewhat fragmentary, having been derived from the various voy- 

 ages which have touched at one or more ports in Peru. It was on the 

 voyage of the French corvette, the CoquiUe, during the years 1N22 

 to L 825, that Lesson observed the galatheid crab, Grimotea gregaria, 

 so-called, in such abundance that it gave the water the appearance of 

 blood, a phenomenon already observed by Banks on his voyage with 

 Captain Cook. As the result of Doctor Coker's labors, we are able 

 to-day to differentiate this species from the true Munida gregaria. 

 (Sec .1/. cokeri, on p. 55'.).) 



The most important contribution to our knowledge of the fauna was 

 made by d'Orbigny on his voyage to South America during 1S2(> to 

 1833. The Crustacea were described by Milne Edwards and Lucas 

 and illustrated largely with colored drawings. Their report forms the 

 basis of all subsequent work on the crustacean fauna of Peru and 



Chile. 



The United States exploring expedition around the world during 

 Iv'is to 1842, under the command of Capt. Charles Wilkes, U. S. X.. 

 touched at Callao, and a number of species from that point are 

 included in the report by dames D. Dana on the Crustacea in the 

 collection. 



Other expeditions that have added to our knowledge of Peruvian 

 Crustacea are those by the Austrian frigate Novara during r857 to 

 1859, the British ship Challenger during the years 1873 to L876, and 

 the Italian Vettor Pisani during 1882 to L885. The Crustacea of this 

 last voyage were reported on by Cano in 1889 : t he lists of species from 

 Peru are much fuller than those given by Kinahan. but their value 

 is impaired by the obvious error in localities assigned to many strictly 

 oriental species. These w ill be found in my li-t of species incorrect ly 

 referred to Peru. 



for 1 he st udy of the Crustacea of l he west coast of South America, 



the third volume of Gay's Historia de Chile is indispensable; each 

 species known up to 1849 is there described by Nicolet, and many are 

 figured in the second volume of the folio atlas. 





