2 Mr. P. W. Bassett-Smith on some 



may be roughly divided into two classes — tlie blood-suckers 

 and the mucus-eaters. Of the former are here described 

 species of Lernanthropus, Peroderma, and Lerjiceonema ; the 

 last, as exampled by L. polynemi, must indeed cause a 

 great amount of irritation and trouble to its host, being found 

 in such numbers on a single tish and burrowing so deeply 

 into the flesh: the second group includes the "Caligida," with 

 BcmohcJius, BracMella, Ghondr acanthus^ &c. The species 

 of CaJigus were seen very actively moving about in the gill- 

 cavity or on the surface of the fish, rarely causing any trouble ; 

 the latter two fixed, but not deeply, the long neck of 

 Bracluella and Anchorella being seen twisting about so as to 

 apply the head to different spots as wanted. The manner in 

 which the free-swimming embryos find their respective hosts 

 is not known and is curious to think of. On the tail of one 

 Cai-anx Rattler i I found some half-dozen specimens of an 

 immature Caligus attached by the frontal filament. 



I have as far as possible followed Gerstaecker's system ; 

 but there is a great deal of discrepancy between the various 

 authors, and in some the plates and descriptions are very 

 meagre. The character of the antennge, which would seem 

 to be a feature on which " generic " classification might be 

 based or assisted, is in Lernanthropus quite lost, for Heller 

 represents all his specimens with two-jointed anterior antennae 

 (if correctly figured and described), whereas Kroyer's and my 

 specimens invariably have six- or seven-jointed antennae, 

 which is, I believe, the normal form. The genus Bomolochis 

 might well be divided into two subgenera — first, those with 

 elongated rostrum and anterior antennae provided with long- 

 bristles, as B. megaceros, Heller, and B. triceros, sp. n.; and 

 second, those with short rostrum and anterior antennae un- 

 provided with bristles, as in B. gracilis, Heller, B. tetra- 

 donis, &c. 



I have been forced to create a new genus — HelJeria — for 

 a species of the family Dichelesthina taken from the gills of 

 Cyhivm gitttatum, which, though closely connected with 

 Heller's Fseudocycnus, yet is, I think, distinct. 



Finally, I may say that for preservative purposes, though 

 a solution of formol keeps the soft-bodied specimens well, 

 yet it has a tendency to blacken the chitinous- coated ones, as 

 Caligus &c. 



Ergasilidse. 

 Bomolochus triceros, sp. n, (PI. I. fig. 1.) 

 Many specimens of this species were taken at Bombay from 



