BIHANG TILL K. SV. VET.-AKAD. HANDL. BAND 27. AFD. IV. N:0 8. 25 



Stat. 11. lat. 79' 20' N., long. 10' E., W. of Spitzbergen, depth 100 

 m., stones, 5/VII, det. Lönnbekg. 

 » 12. ibidem, depth 60 m., rocks, 5 VII, det. LÖNNBERG. 



This species is one of the most common decapods in the 

 Arctic Ocean, wliere it lives mainly in siiallow water from 

 a few up to 100 fathoms. In greater depths it very seldom 

 occurs, although, in Hansen's catalogue of West Greenland- 

 ian Malacostraca, it is said once to have been obtained off 

 Jakobshavn, at a depthaf 200 fathoms. The author, however, 

 points out, that he has never seen a single specimen from 

 the numerons Swedish dredgings from a depth of 100—400 

 fathoms — which seems to prove that tbe species, at least as 

 a rule, does not live in depths even slightly exceeding 100 

 fathoms. 



Its horizontal distribution is very extensive within the 

 Arctic Circle. I content myself with remarking that it has 

 been recorded from almost every coast. On the Eastern coast 

 of North America it goes as far south as Massachusetts Bay 

 and right along the coast of Norway to Lofoten Island. 



As to the stränge fact that it has not as yet been obtained 

 in the Kära Sea either by the Danish »Dijmphna» Expe- 

 dition or by the Swedish expeditions, and that it seems to 

 be very rare E. of Spitzbergen and off East Greenland, I 

 refer to what is said farther on under the next species. 

 Although Brandt^ says that »das Museum besitzt ==== = 

 mehrere vom Hrn v. Baer im Eismeere gesammelte Indivi- 

 duen = =», it is somewhat surprising to find that Stuxberg 

 does not mention it as occurring along the Siberian coast 

 except very far east. Hansen remarks also that these state- 

 ments as well as Stimpson's notice that it occurs salong the 

 whole coast of North America to Bering Straits» must be — 

 ad interim — considered as somewhat doubtful, because, 

 possibly, some confusion with Sclerocrawjon salehrosus taken 

 at Kamtschatka may exist as to some of these dates. I, 

 therefore, think that its generally accepted circumpolarity 

 must be proved by further investigation in the Siberian 

 Polar Sea, as well as in the North American Archipelago. 



* Middendobff's Sibir. Reise 1. c. p. 114. 



