NO. 3652 ISOPODA AND TANAIDACEA—MILLER ta 
cance to epimeral sutures, or that the sphaeromatids from Durban 
Bay that he identified as his Sphaeroma walkeri might belong to a 
closely related species, possibly S. venutissimum Monod. The fact 
that his figures of these show other differences from the original 
description of S. walkeri lends credence to the latter view. For instance, 
the African specimens have tubercles on the head that are not indi- 
cated at all in his description or figures of the type. They also have 
eight or nine teeth on the uropodal exopod instead of the prescribed 
six or seven. (Although Stebbing’s description of Sphaeroma walkeri 
states there are six or seven teeth on the outer margin of the uropod, 
his figures show only five. He doubtless counted as a tooth the pointed 
apex of the exopod.) It is difficult to believe that so eminent an 
authority as Stebbing could erroneously assign specimens to a species 
he himself described, albeit many years earlier. 
Other differences between the buoy specimens and the description 
of Sphaeroma walkert may be characterized as normal variation. Most 
specimens had five lateral teeth on the outer branch of the uropod 
(the typical number), but a few had four or six. Sometimes the number 
varied between the two sides of a specimen. Most had two tubercles 
on the dorsal side of the endopod, but several had three and one 
specimen had only one. The distinctness of the tuberculation, particu- 
larly on the thoracic segments, increases with the size of the specimen. 
Sphaeroma terebrans Bate 
FIGURE 3 
Locauities.—Florida Keys (Station 42). Texas coast: near Freeport 
(Station 53), off Sabine Pass (Stations 54-58). 
Remarxks.—The sphaeromatids from buoys off the Texas coast 
are assigned with some hesitation to Sphaeroma terebrans. This is a 
variable species widely distributed in warm waters (salt, brackish, 
and fresh) of both the Old and New Worlds (Nierstrasz, 1931; Van 
Name, 1936). Reported localities include many in India (Stebbing, 
1904; Erlanson, 1936; Pillai, 1954); equatorial and southern Africa 
(Barnard 1920, 1940; Brian and Dartevelle, 1949; Stebbing, 1910); 
Australia (Baker, 1926; Calman, 1921; McNeill, 1932); Siam and 
Sumatra (Chilton, 1926); St. John’s River (fresh water) at Palatka, 
Fla. (Richardson, 1905b); Escambia River, Fla., and Sabine River, 
Tex. (Wurtz and Roback, 1955); and Brazil (type-locality). Menzies 
and Frankenberg (1966) report it from Georgia, but as S. destructor. 
Dr. Thomas E. Bowman of the U.S. National Museum informs me 
(in litt.) that it also has been reported from Virginia by Wass (1963) 
but apparently was carried there on a ship from Florida. The above- 
cited Florida location is the type-locality of S. destructor Richardson, 
which has been considered a synonym of S. terebrans Bate by most 
