COPEPODA FROM IFALUK ATOLL 



313 



of maxillipedes, structure of the furca) which set it apart from the 

 genera now included in that family and it seems advisable to retain, 

 at least for the present, the family Louriniidae to include this aber- 

 rant species and its allies. The variability in Lourinia armata, espe- 

 cially in the structure of the furcal setae and leg 5, is fairly w^de, 

 although probably less wide than may appear from a first impres- 

 sion of the various di-awings published. The two median setae of 

 the baso-endopodite in the female are now figured as haired setae, 

 now as lancet-shaped spines. This, in a statement, seems quite an 

 important difference, but practice shows that it is extremely difficult 

 at times to discern from a slide containing a dissected leg w^hat is 

 actually present; some of the differences found in the literature may 

 be the result of somewhat hasty observations. A wide conception 

 of the limits of the species L. armata therefore seems justified. I 

 see no reason at all for the subspecific distinction of L. a. sulameri- 

 cana Jakobi, 1954, and I have sunk it into the synonymy of the 

 present species. All characters enumerated by Jakobi also apply to 

 the European representatives of this species as well as to the speci- 

 mens described here. Jakobi apparently has included the spines on 

 the endopodite among the setae, which accounts for the differences 

 between his table on p. 194 with the setal formulae given in other, 

 and the present, descriptions. The two forms, into which the pres- 

 ent species was split by Sewell (1940), Ceyloniella armata f. major 

 and Ceyloniella armata f. minor, are separated mainly by differences 

 in length; the structural differences are so very slight that they are 

 almost on the level of individual variations. I have not accepted 

 Sewell's forms, the more so since a considerable difference in lengths 

 is found in the various specimens so far recorded. Table of 

 measurement (in mm.): 



As may also appear from the table given below, the Ifaluk specimen 

 has a setal formula that differs in some respects from those given in the 

 literature. I am inclined not to attach too much importance to this 

 difference since a small difference in setation also is found in other 

 variable Harpacticoids. 



