188 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM VOL. 97 
appearance of the tarsal joints, characterizes this species. Ovigerous 
males have been collected in New England waters in July. The 
specimens vary from about 4 to 8 cm. in extent. 
Needler, following Giltay, prefers to keep Nymphon mixtum [and 
N. glaciale] separate from N. grossipes, but Stephensen (1935), working 
with a large Norwegian series, was unable to separate the varieties. 
I have had no better success with the New England material at my 
disposal, consisting of several hundred specimens. As there seems to 
be no geographical or bathymetric correlation with the various pro- 
portions of the lengths of tarsal joints and differences in the palpal 
joints, at least in the New England region, I see no purpose in trying 
to maintain these forms, either as distinct species or varieties, although 
I have allowed the older indentifications to stand in the appendix 
tables at the end of this paper. Derjugin (1935, pp. 118-122) has an 
extended discussion in Russian of the grossipes complex, and elsewhere 
in his paper presents a formidable array of graphs and tables. Accord- 
ing to his English summary on p. 140, ‘“Nymphon glaciale, N. rubrum 
and N. brevitarse represent forms of the same species, to which we 
have left the denomination of N. brevirostre .. .”’ His reasons for 
using the name brevirosire are not explained in the summary, but it 
seems to me to be an unnecessary addition to the confusion. He goes 
on to state, in contradiction to his contention that ‘‘the species of 
N. brevirostre are easily distinguished from those of the related 
species,” that “‘all the forms of N. brevirostre and N. grossipes are 
characterized by a pronounced variability of the age-character. The 
different stages of individual development of separate forms may be 
similar to each other.’”’ His concluding statement on this species 
complex, that ‘‘the forms of N. brevirostre, N. grossipes and N. mixtum 
bear the stamp of geographical and ecological varieties,” may hold 
for the Russian Arctic but evidently breaks down in the Norwegian 
and New England regions. Until the genus Nymphon is revised by 
someone with access to specimens of all or most of the hundred and 
more species, and the limits of speciation within this genus are more 
clearly defined, there will inevitably be some difference of opinion on 
the status of the forms in the grossipes complex in particular. 
Distribution —Nymphon grossipes is found in shallow water from 
the Bay of Fundy to Long Island Sound and in deeper water at various 
depths to 677 fathoms from Flemish Cap to the southern edge of 
Georges Bank. It is also known from the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 
Davis Strait, and northwest Greenland. In European waters it is 
found from central England to the Arctic Circle and the White Sea. 
In the North Pacific it occurs as far south as Puget Sound and Japan 
dat. 35°N.). 
