214 BOPYRIDA. 
TSOPODA. BOPYRID. 
NORMALIA. 
Genus—BOPYRUS, LaTREILLE. 
Tue male of this genus is very small, narrow, and 
elongated, resembling an Jdotea in its general form, but 
with only rudimentary antenne, and with the pleon 
gradually narrowed to the tip and formed of six segments 
fused together, except at the margin, and apparently 
destitute of lateral appendages. The body is symme- 
trical in its shape. 
The cephalon is distinct, transversely ovate, and fur- 
nished on the underside with two pairs of antenne, the 
outer pair of which are composed of four short joints, ter- 
minated by sete, whilst the inner pair are almost rudi- 
mental, and composed apparently of only two joints ; 
the mouth is also almost rudimental, forming a conical 
point. The seven pairs of legs are of nearly equal size, 
and of considerable strength and thickness; they are 
affixed on the underside of the body, near the lateral 
margins, which are prolonged into rounded plates, and 
are directed, when at rest, towards the mesial line of 
the body, and terminated by a broadly ovate recurved 
hand, with a short, strong, bent claw at its extremity, 
employed for prehension. 
The female is five or six times as large again as the 
male, being pear-shaped and unsymmetrical in its form, 
generally curved to one or the other side, and very 
much depressed, so that it assumes the appearance of a 
shield, having the lateral margins rather dilated and 
elevated, the lateral line of the segments being more 
