84 Papers from the Department of Marine Biology. 
There are also a number of cases in which the rostrum is deflexed. 
From the comparison here made and the facts stated I think there is 
little doubt that we are dealing with one very variable species. 
I have compared my collection with the full description given by 
Balss of his specimen (the fullest description given of G. elegans) and 
find the following discrepancies: 
(1) In the third maxilliped the merus is armed with three prominent 
spines on the internal border in the Japanese form, in mine with 
only two; Henderson and Ortmann both describe G. elegans 
with two spines in this position. 
(2) In the ambulatory limbs the merus has a spinose upper angle accord- 
ing to Balss, but is smooth in the Torres Straits forms; the 
denticulation of the dactylus is weak in the former, but in the 
latter there is a powerful end claw, succeeded by prominent teeth 
only gradually decreasing in size. 
Fic. 4.—Galathea. 
A. G. elegans, Torres Straits, rostrum showing lateral teeth and arrangement 
of hairs. X 8. 
B. G. minuta, third maxilliped, showing spines on merus (m). XX 18. 
C. G. inflata, third maxilliped.  X 4. 
But in a variable species we might expect to find such differences. 
The Japanese form described by Balss is clearly a rather extreme mem- 
ber of the variable series, as shown by the fact that it has the highest 
number of denticulations on the rostrum recorded. The agreements 
between Balss’s description and my specimens outweigh the differences. 
In conclusion, I give the following diagnosis, to embrace all the forms 
here discussed: 
G. elegans: Rostrum rather more than half the length of the remainder of 
the carapace with from 5 to 9 small denticulations on each side; width about 
half the length; sometimes deflexed; carapace somewhat pear-shaped; about 
a dozen indentations on each side; surface traversed by many narrow hori- 
zontal furrows, from which spring thick lines of short fine hairs, though these 
may be absent or nearly so. The rostrum is covered with hairs rather longer 
than those on the carapace, arranged in distinct crescents posteriorly. Dor- 
sum and limbs covered with dark pigment, but there are generally pigment- 
free longitudinal bands of variable width. Chele long and slender, cylin- 
drical in section, thicker in the male than the female, varying in length in 
the latter. 
Often, if not always, commensal with crinoids. 
