CYAMIDJi:. 



Fam. III.— CYAMIDtE. 



Body flat. Cephalon cylindrical, tapering, anchylosed 

 with the first segment of the pereion. The latter broad, 

 depressed, with the segments laterally wide apart. Pleon 

 rudimentary. Eyes posterior to the superior antennas, of 

 which the flagellum is indistinctly articulated. Inferior 

 antennae minute, inserted between the upper pair and 

 the labrum. Gnathopoda subchelate. Pereiopoda 

 flat, broad, and furnished with strongly-hooked dactyla, 

 wanting to the third and fourth segments of the body, 

 which are furnished with elongated branchiae. 



This family consists of a single genus, the species of 

 which are parasitic upon the cetaceous animals. They 

 are of moderate size, and are able, by means of the strong 

 hooks with which their legs are terminated, to affix them- 

 selves firmly to their prey. The head is small, oblong, and 

 cylindrical, soldered to the first segment of the body, 

 which is dilated at its sides, giving this part of the animal 

 a pear-shaped appearance. The antennas are affixed to 

 the anterior and superior extremity of the head. The 

 upper pair are of moderate size ; the peduncle composed 

 of three nearly equal-sized joints, followed by a small, 

 indistinctly -articulated ffagellum. The inferior pair are 

 very small, and terminate in a small conical, apparently 

 uni-articulate flagellum. Immediately beneath these lat- 

 ter appendages is a small tubercle, which is homologous 

 with the olfactory organ of the normal Amphipoda. The 

 mouth is small, and placed at tlie infero-anterior extremity 

 of the head : it consists, according to Savigny, of a 



