Art. III. — Phreatoiciis shephardi — a Neiu Species of 

 Fresh-water Isopoda from Victoria. 



By 0. A. SAYCE. 



(Plate III.) 

 [Eead 19th April, 1900]. 



The species here described I received from Mr. J. Shephard, 

 together with an undescribed Amphipod, and Ijoth were collected 

 by him during a late Field Naturalists' Club excursion to the 

 Plenty Ranges, which forms part of the Dividing Range, and is 

 situated about 35 miles from Melbourne. A report on the 

 district, with lists of fauna and flora, appears in the " Victorian 

 Naturalist," vol. XVI., pages 163-170, in which, concerning the 

 present species, Mr. Shephard says, "Several specimens of small 

 Crustacea were secured from among the spongy mass of lower 

 plant-life growing on the hillside, at the source of a spring, which 

 is evidently permanent, as it is utilized for supplying the houses 

 with water." I may further add that the spring is on the north 

 side of the Dividing Range, and runs into the Wallaby Creek, 

 that the geological formation is a small granite area, surrounded 

 by a wide expanse of Upper Silurian, and that the altitude is 

 about 2000 feet. 



Unfortunately only one of the present species was obtained. 

 It proved, on dissection, to be a male, and it is of interest as 

 belonging to the peculiarly Australasian family Phreatoicidae, 

 which is so far removed from other Isopods as to warrant, 

 according to Stebbing, a new tribe, concerning which he says, 

 " The genus is beyond dispute remarkable, requiring to be placed 

 in a separate family, and though some may prefer to class this 

 among the Asellota, I have ventured to think that a separate 

 tribe Phreatoicidea should be instituted to receive it."' Chilton, 

 who instituted the genus, has admirably discussed its characters 



1 A History of Crustacea, by Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing, M.A. International Sc. Series, 

 vol. Ixxiv., p. 391. 



