124 Rev. A. M. Norman's Notes on British Amphipoda. 



Elasmcjjus rapax, Costa. (PI. XL figs. 1-8.) 



1853. Elasmopus rapa.v, Costa, Crost. Amfip. del Reg-uo di Napoli, 



p. 212, pi. iv. fig. 5, c?. 

 1855. Gammanis brevicanrlaiiis, Bate, Rep. Brit. Assoc, p. 5.^, $. 

 1862. Me(jam<Tra hrevkamlata, Bate, Cat. Ampliip. Crust. Brit. Mus. 



p. 228, pi. xl. fig-. 2. 

 1862. Meijanvera hrevicaudata, Bate & Westw. Brit. Sessile-eyed 



Crust, vol. i. p. 409, 9 . 

 1866. Mcera breacaudata, Heller, Ampbip. des Adriat. Meeres, p. 42, 



pi. iii. figs. 27, 2.^, J $ . 

 1870. Elasmopus latipes, Boeck, Crust. Ampliip. bor. et aret. p. 1-32. 

 1876. Elasmopus latipes, Boeck, De Skand. ng Arkt. Ampliip. p. 393, 



pi. xxiv. fig. 1,(5: 1887. Clievreaux, Crust. Ampbip. du Sud-ouest 



de la Bretagiie, p. 20, and woodcut 3, J • 

 1888. Mtera rapax, Tb. Barrois, Cat. des Crustact5s marins reeuellis 



aux Azores, p. 39, pi. iv. figs. 1-4, and woodcuts, cJ § • 



Hab. Tn my ' Slietland Dredging Report ' tliis species is 

 recorded thus: — "A specimen, determined by Mr, Bate, 

 dredged in 4 fathoms, 13rassay Sound, 1861." That speci- 

 men I do not remember to have ever seen ; it certainly is not 

 in my collection now, nor have I seen any British specimen. 

 On Bate and Wcstwood's authority we have the following : — 

 Plymouth {Bate) ; IMoray Firth {Rev. G. Gordon). 



I)istrihutio7i. Adriatic {IJeller) : Mus. Norm. Naple.s 

 {Costa) ; Azores {Barrois) ; South-west of France {Chev- 

 reaiix) ; Norway? (Boeck). 



Clievreaux tells us that Elasmojms ra2Jax is a commensal 

 of ^[a^a squinado, and states that in some places it is more 

 abundant on that crab than its well-known companion Iscea 

 Montagui. As, however, Maia squinado is not known in 

 either the Moray Firth, Shetland, or Norway, Elasmopus^ if 

 found in these localities, must there forego the friendship. 



I give figures taken from Adriatic specimens which will 

 for the most part speak for themselves. But it is desirable 

 to call attention to the variation in form of the hand in the 

 second gnathopod of the male. I give figures (PI. XI. 

 figs. 3-5), all to the same scale, of this organ in three speci- 

 mens of different size. The finger closes, as has been 

 described by Barrois, into a hollow on the inner face of the 

 hand, at the proximal end of which is a tooth-process (a). 

 This hollow, it will be seen in the youngest specimen, is 

 ovoid, and the hand itself is nearly oblong ; with increasing 

 age the hand becomes more pyriform, narrowing distally, 

 the hollowed space longer and narrower, and the portion of 

 the hand anterior to the commencement of the hollow shorter 

 in proportion to that beyond it. As regards the spines and 

 tubercles, in none of my specimens is the tooth-process (a) in 



