igii.] T. R. R. Stebbing : Indian Isopods. 189 



It scarcely needs saying that the distinctive characters bor- 

 rowed from de Saussure, in which fliers placed confidence, are 

 no longer adequate for modern requirements. But the acknow- 

 ledged identity of P. fiavo-vittata with M. prmnosus determines 

 the precedence of Porcellionides. 



Porcellionides pruinosus (Brandt). 



1833. Porcellio pruinosus, Brandt, Conspectus Crust. Oniscodo- 



rmn, p. 19. 

 1879. M etoponorthus pruinosus, Budde-Lund, Prospectus Isop. 



tcrrestrium, p. 4. 

 1885. ., „ Budde-Iyund, Crustacea Isopoda 



terre stria, p. 169. 

 1896. ,, „ DoUfus, Mem. Soc. Zool. de 



Prance, vol. ix, p. 543. 

 1898. ., „ Sars, Crustacea of Norway, 



vol. ii, pt. 10, p. 184, pi. 80, 



fig. 2. 

 1901, ,, ,, (?) Chilton, Trans. Linn. Soc, 



vol. viii, pt. 4, p. 141. 

 1908 „ Carl, Nouv. Mem. Soc. Helve- 



tique Sci. Nat., vol. xlii, pt. 2, 



pi. 3, fig. 80 (Racovitza). 

 1908. 3, ,, Racovitza, Arch. Zool. experi- 



mental, ser. 4, vol. ix, No. 5, 



p. 386, figs, xiii — xvii. 

 1908 . ,, Budde-Lund, Voeltzkow's Reise 



in Ostafrika, vol. ii, pp. 281, 



285. 



The full synonymy of this species contains man}^ specific names 

 and the names of many authors. Recently Racovitza has remarked 

 that, although it is considered cosmopolitan, little attention has 

 been paid to the question of its local variations. He gives some 

 comparative figures to illustrate this point of view and promises 

 a further stud3\ 



Specimens sent from the Indian Museum are labelled as 

 having been taken at " Kurseong, 5,000 feet, E. Himalayas, 15- 

 vii-07." Though partial desiccation unfits them for elaborate 

 research, the dissection of a male shows its close agreement with 

 the figures of that sex as drawn by Professor Sars. The fifth and 

 sixth joints of the first gnathopods are crowded with spines and 

 spinules. A slight variation may consist in the fact that the sixth 

 joint is attached close to the outer margin of the fifth, not sub- 

 centrally to its apex as in the figure by Sars. The proportions of 

 the second antennae, the upper lip without hairs on the margin, the 

 masculine apparatus of the first and second pleopods, and the 

 shape of the telsonic segment correspond fully with what is shown 

 in the Crustacea of Norway. 



