Chilton. — Notes on tlie Calliaaassidae of N.Z. 457 



Upogebia hirtifrons (White). 



Gebia hirtifrons, White, P.Z.S., 1847, p. 122 ; Ann. Mag. Nat. 

 Hist., ser. 2, i, p. 225 ; List Crust. Brit. Mus. (1847), p. 71 ; 

 Miers, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 4, xvii, p. 223 ; Cat, N.Z. 

 Crust., p. 71, and Zool. " Erebus " and " Terror," Crust., 

 p. 4, pi. iii, fig. 5 ; Kirk, Trans. N.Z. Inst., xi, p. 401 ; 

 Ortmann, " Decapoden und Schizopoden der Plankton 

 Expedition," p. 49 ; Index Faunae N.Z., p. 253 (part) ; 

 (not of Dana, U.S. Expl. Exp., xiii. Crust., part i, p. 511, 

 nor of Haswell, Cat. Aust. Crust., p. 164). 



This species was briefly described by White in 1847 from a 

 specimen obtained during the Antarctic expedition of the 

 " Erebus " and " Terror," but without any definite indication of 

 habitat. Later on Dana referred specimens obtained at Bay of 

 Islands, New Zealand, by the United States Exploring Expedi- 

 tion, to White's species. In 1876 Miers pointed out that this 

 identification was incorrect, and that Dana's specimens belong 

 to a different species, which he named Gebia danai (see below). 

 In 1879 Mr. T. W. Kirk recorded the existence of a specimen of 

 a Gebia in the private collection of Mr. H. B. Kirk. This speci- 

 men is no longer available, but from Mr. Kirk's description it is 

 evident that it belongs to White's species as more fully defined 

 by Miers in the " Catalogue of the New Zealand Crustacea," 

 p. 71, though, curiously enough, Mr. Kirk refers it by name to 

 Dana's species, and hence " Gebia hirtifrons, Kirk," was put 

 down in the " Index Faunae Novse-Zealandise," p. 253, as a 

 synonym of Upogebia danai, Miers, instead of under the present 

 species. 



The confusion was afterwards increased by Professor Haswell, 

 who referred a Gebia found in the interior of sponges in Port 

 Jackson to White's species (Cat. Aust. Mus., p. 164). It appears, 

 however, that his specimens belong neither to Gebia hirtifrons, 

 White, nor to G. danai, Mieis, but to a third species, probably 

 Upogebia (Gebiopsis) bowerbanhii, Miers. 



The result has been that it has long remained uncertain 

 whether Gebia hirtifrons. White, occurred in New Zealand or not, 

 though, of course, the question would have been settled in 1879 

 by Mr. Kirk's specimen if it had not been wrongly named. I 

 have, moreover, recently obtained undoubted specimens of 

 White's species from Mr. H. Suter, and also from Mr. J. Mac- 

 niahon, so [that there is now no doubt that Gebia hirtifrons. 

 White, and G. danai, Miers, are both found in New Zealand. 



Specific Diagnosis. — Cephalothorax about one-half the length 

 of the abdomen, the front hardly at all trilobed, its anterior end 

 and lateral margins with stout teeth, smaller teeth and tufts of 



