100 DE. C. CHILTON ON THE 



the type specimens of some species described by him. Through the kindness of Professor 

 F. Jeffrey Bell and Mr. R. I. Pocock, I have been able to examine type specimens of 

 Miers' species in British Museum, and Monsieur Adrien Dollfus has sent me species 

 from Europe that have heen most useful for comparison. To all these gentlemen I 

 desire to record here my hearty thanks. 



Some of the work involved in the j)reparation of this paper was done in the Natural 

 History Department of the University of Edinburgh, where Professor Cossar Ewart 

 kindly gave me the use of a table, but a large part has heen done during vacations in the 

 laboratory of the University College, Dundee, and I desire to record my thanks to 

 Professor D'Arcy W. Thompson, C.B., for the facilities placed at my disposal, and for 

 permission to make free use of the rich stores of Terrestrial Isopoda in the collections 

 under his care, while to Dr. W. T. Caiman I am greatly indebted for much kind assist- 

 ance during the progress of the work. 



I have, as far as possible, followed the classification and nomenclature adopted by 

 Professor G. O. Sars in his fine work on the Crustacea of Norway, and have to thank 

 him for sending me the parts hearing on the Isopoda. I have tried to give cill the 

 references specially dealing with the New Zealand sjiecies, but in the case of species and 

 senera that are also known from elsewhere, I have onlv 2,'iven one or two of the most 

 important ; for the benefit of workers in New Zealand, where books of reference are few, 

 I have given diagnoses of all the genera, taking these in most cases from Sars' work, 

 and have also given short notes on the characters of the families. 



It will be seen that the Terrestrial Isopodan faima of New Zealand is fairly rich and 

 varied, all the families but one being represented. I am able to give 27 species, belong- 

 ing to 13 genera, of which only 8 or 4- are " uncertain species " ; for the sake of 

 comparison it may be mentioned that in the last list of the Terrestrial Isopoda of the 

 British Isles, as given by Canon Norman *, there are 20 species, belonging to 11 genera. 

 Moreover, it is probable that the number of New Zealand species Avill hereafter be 

 increased, especially when the North Island has been thoroughly searched, for at 

 present the majority of my specimens are from the South Island, and only a few more 

 or less haphazard collections have been made in the North Island. Of the outlying 

 islands of New Zealand, I have only two species from Chatham Islands, and one from the 

 Auckland Island. Three species are at present known from single sj)ecimens only, and 

 two others have been found only in one locality and on a single occasion. In addition 

 to the species given, specimens from ants' nests, probably belonging to Platyarthrus, were 

 referred to by Mr. W. W. Smith, in a paper dealing with some New Zealand Ants, and 

 were stated to have been sent to Europe with other collections from ants' nests. I have 

 endeavoured to trace these specimens, but without success, and so far Mr. Smith has 

 not been able to procure fresh specimens for me. 



The Terrestrial Isopoda are \i'ell worthy of study from the point of view of the 

 geographical distribution of animals, and the facts of their distribution will be of great 

 value for testing the correctness of the views as to the origin of the fauna of particular 



* Annals & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 7, iii. pp. 70~7S. 



