Prof. R. Kossinann on tlie Ciyptoniscidag. 3 



the male as still unknown. Nevcrtlieless he was the first to 

 give us an idea of the adult parasite, as Goodsir had only 

 figured the head and the first four thoracic segments, but 

 neglected all the remaining deformed part of the animal. 



A further enlargement of our knowledge upon this group 

 was furnished in the year 1871 by a memoir of Fritz Miiller's*. 

 Under the name of Cryptoniscus iDlanarioides he described a 

 parasite resembling Lirio'pe^ but which displaces its host, a 

 Peltogaster^ from the hermit-crab ; only the roots of the Pelto- 

 gaster are preserved, and are apparently made use of by the 

 Cryptoniscus for its own nourishment. 



Soon after the appearance of Miiller's memoir, and without 

 any acquaintance therewith, I myself published notes f ujDon 

 some forms belonging to this group from Semper's Philippine 

 collections, namely an internal parasite from Sacculina jnsi- 

 formis^ which I named Eumefor liriopides^ an external para- 

 site on the abdomen of a rorcdlana {Zeuxo porcellancv) ; 

 another on the head of an Alpheus [Zeuxo alphei) ; and, 

 lastly, a parasite from the brood-cavity of a Bopyrus [Cahira 

 lerna'odiscoides) . Any exact anatomical investigation of 

 these forms was impossible, as I had only single spirit-speci- 

 mens of them. 



Passing over Hesse's unscientific and useless memoirs in the 

 ' Annales des Sciences Naturelles,' I come to the most recent 

 and important work upon this subject, namely Fraisse's 

 memoir " Die Gattung Crypto^iiscuSy Fr. Miiller " |. To its 

 contents I shall have to refer repeatedly. 



There has long, as we have seen, been a general conviction 

 of a near relationship between the Bopyrida3 and Cryptonis- 

 cida3. When, therefore, I formed the plan of undertaking a 

 monographic description of the Bopyridffi, I could not think 

 of passing over the Cryptoniscidee. Moreover, there were 

 points of diilerence between the statements of Buchholz and 

 Fraisse and the results of my own occasional investigations, 

 which made a thorough testing of the investigations of these 

 two meritorious observers appear indispensable. 



I have therefore twice, in 1882 and 1883, thoroughly 

 studied Hemioniscus halani in Christiansand itself, and in the 

 autumn of 1883, with the aid of the Royal Academy which 



* Fritz Miiller, " Bruchstiicke zur Naturgeschichte der Bopyriden," in 

 Jenaisclie Zeitschrift fiir Medicin und Naturwissenschaft, Bd. vi. p 01 

 Taf. iv. figs. 12-19. ■ ' 



t Kossmann. " Beitrjige zur Anatomie der schmarotzenden Ranken- 

 fiissler, Anhang," iu Arbeiten aiis dem zool.-zootom. Institut der Uuiv. 

 Wiirzbiirg, Bd. i. 



X Arbeiten aus dem zool.-zootom. Inst, der Univ. Wiirzburg, Bd. iv, 



1* 



