MARINE ISOPODA OF NEW ENGLAND, ETC. 



357 



Length 15"™; breadth -5.5""^. Alcoholic specimens are of a light 

 grayish yellow, with minute black pnnctations. 



It was abundant in eel-grass at Great Egg Harbor, New Jersey ! in 

 April, 1871, and has also been found at Noank, Conn. ! on eel-grass, but 

 is not common. It has not been found north of Cape Cod. 



Specimens examined. 



Epelys Dana. 

 Epelys Dana, Am. Jonr. Sci., II, vol. viii, p. 426, 1849. 



Antennae shorter than the anntennulae and with only a rudimentary 

 flagellum ; i)alpus of the maxillipeds three-jointed ; legs all terminated 

 with prehensile hands; pleon consolidated into a single segment with a 

 basal lobe on each side. 



Two small and closely allied species from this coast have been referred 

 to this genus. They resemble each other very closely and may be at 

 once recognized by their depressed ovate form, very short antennfe, and 

 generally dirty appearance. The form of the body and absence of power- 

 ful mandibles distinguish them from the male Gnathia. The length of the 

 body is between two and three times its width. It is marked by a de- 

 pressed line on each side, running from the posterior part of the head, 

 across the thoracic segments, nearer to their lateral margins than the 

 median line, except peihaps in the last segment, thence continued to in- 

 close a prominent hemispherical protuberance on the anterior part of the 

 pleon, giving the animal somewhat the appearance of a trilobite. The 

 body is slightly roughened under a lens, or sometimes minutely hirsute. 

 The head is slightly dilated at the sides, with the anterior angles pro- 

 duced, and bears a pair of broad, low, triangular tubercles on its anterior 

 part, and a curved posterior depression. Tlie eyes are lateral and prom- 

 inent, the antennuloB are longer than the head, surpass the antennae, and 

 have the basal segment but little enlarged. The antennae (pi. VIII, fig. 

 45 h) are shorter than the head, not siu-passing the third antennular seg- 

 ment, the segments increasing in length to the fourth ; fifth as long as 

 the fourth, but more slender, bearing a minute, slender rudiment of a 

 flagellum, which is setose at the tip. 



The thoracic segments have thick evident margins; first segment 

 smallest, somewhat embracing the head; third and fourth largest; 



