534 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol.49. 



debris which catch on logs or sticks. Here they spread the nets on 

 their claws and scrape up the organic sustenance which the surround- 

 ing water contains. Prawns, great and small, lurk under stones or 

 logs or secrete themselves in the vegetation along the shores. 



Swamps supported an abundance of entomostracans, but with the 

 exception of an occasional fresh-water crab (Trichodadylus quinque- 

 dentatus or T. dentatus), no higher Crustacea were found. Ostracods 

 crawled over the floating vegetation, copepods and cladocerans 

 often swarmed in the water. Around the margins of swamps land 

 crabs were often abundant, living in short burrows beneath logs; 



The rain forest had a greater variety of crustacean inhabitants 

 than any other region. This was to be expected if the variety of 

 habitats and the abundance of food were considered. The most 

 widely distributed genus was PMlosda, P. nitida, being the most 

 abundant species. This isopod was usually found in rather damp 

 places — under stones in brooks; along the edges of streams; on the 

 ground under leaves, sticks, logs, or stones; in bromeliads; and on 

 trees. When the foraging ants invaded the forest it could be seen 

 fleeing over the ground or up the trunks of trees. P. walkeri and 

 P. culehrae were less abundant. They were found under logs or 

 leaves. Ligijda richardsonae was very common and resembled 

 Philoscia nitida in its habits. The usual haunt of Cubans hrevispinis 

 was under the scaly bark of a certain tree with an extremely rough 

 trunk, though it was sometimes found on the ground under leaves or 

 logs. Other species of isopods frequented rotten logs or the ground 

 under fallen leaves. Minca ruthveni was extremely abundant in 

 such situations. The forest crabs in the region about Santa Marta 

 were Pseudotlielphusa pearsei and P. clausa, which were common 

 everywhere at the Cincinnati Coffee Plantation — under logs far from 

 water, in streams, walking over the ground dm'ing showers. 



In the desert along the coast there were no characteristic crusta- 

 ceans except Coenohita diogenes which wandered about among the 

 sparse vegetation in rocky situations. Nevertheless, there were a 

 number of crustaceans in the desert. Along the streams where the 

 forest crept down into the lowlands some characteristic species 

 from above were found (Philoscia culehrae, Cuharis hrevispinis, etc.) . 

 Some crabs {Tricliodactylus dentatus, T. pictus, T. quinquedentatus) 

 which were not met in the forest at higher altitudes were also found 

 along these streams. In the water itself there were the shrimps and 

 prawns characteristic of larger streams. 



REMARKS ON THE ECOLOGY OF CRUSTACEA. 



It is interesting to observe how in their habits different types of 

 animals cHng to racial traditions. Many of the Amphibia, such as 

 the toads and tree frogs, are truly terrestrial, yet most of them go 

 back to the water during the breeding season. On the other hixnd. 



