PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATER NATIONAL MUSKUM. 7 



It luay be distiuguisbed iVom tbe oominou species of on icoas^t, Belone 

 longirostrin, (Mitchill) Cill, by many characters, the most saliout of 

 which are the more elongate form, the lesser proportionate length of 

 the head, the much greater number of rays in the vertical fins [B. lati- 

 mamis has D. 25: A. L'3. B. longirostrls has D. 13-lG : A. 1G-1«)), the 

 broader and proportionately shorter pectorals, and the forked caudal. 



The length of the specimen was 49 inches (1244.6 millimetres), its 

 weight 5J pounds (2381 grams). 



Color: — Back, top of head, and snout dark green in dead specimen, 

 probably beryl-green in life. Fin-rays greenish-brown. Fin membranes 

 and protected parts, such as axils of pectoral fins, colorless. Sides light 

 brownish, with silvery overwash. Belly, cheeks, throat, and lower part 

 of lower jaw silvery- white. Eye greenish -yellow. 



Radial /ormw/rt.— Branchiostegals XIV. D. 24: A. 25: C. 7-6 + 7-5: 

 P. 12 : V. 6. 



January 15, 1878. 



THE VOICES OF CRUSTACEANS. 



By G. BR01¥N GOODE. 



The observations of Mr. Saville Kent and Mr. J. Wood Mason (Na- 

 ture, vols, xvi, p. 565, and xvii, p. 11) recall to mind some similar 

 facts recently noted by me in the Bermudas. 



Several species of Alpheus were observed to have the power of pro- 

 ducing loud clicking sounds. Two or three of the larger species are 

 accustomed to lurk under flat stones near low-water mark. Some of 

 these are two inches long. When one of them is taken between the 

 fingers by an inexperienced collector, the sudden, convulsive snap 

 almost invariably causes him to drop it. The effect is like that of a 

 sharp blow across the knuckles. Some smaller species of the genus 

 are found only in the cavities of a large aplysine sponge, abundant on 

 the reefs. I have picked out seventy or eighty from a fragment of 

 sponge not more than three inches in diameter. When the sponge is 

 taken in the hand, the quick succession of clickings reminds one of the 

 sound of instruments in a large telegraph oflice. When one of these 

 animals is put in an earthen or glass vessel, it makes a much louder 

 noise, resembling a quick tap with the finger-nail or the back of a knife 

 upon the edge of the same vessel. This noise is produced by a convul- 

 sive snapping of the last joint of the large claw, by a movement resem- 

 bling that of the spring beetles {U later Ida;), and the sounds are quite 

 similar. Possibly these movements may have a protective object, enab- 

 ling the little decapods to escape from the grasp of enemies, or to work 

 out from under the stones and loose sand in which they must often 

 become buried. 



Another macrurous crustacean, Gonodactylm chimgra, known to the 



