PYCNOGONIDA OF NEW ENGLAND AND ADJACENT WATERS. 481 



Legs comparatively stout, remarkably smooth in appearance, though 

 ■with a very few scattered hairs ; basal joint nearly quadrate, about half 

 the length of the second, which is somewhat longer than the third; the 

 three following are nearly equal and longer than the three basal joints 

 united; propodus stout and curved, about four times the tarsus; on its 

 inferior margin are five stout spines followed by a series of very small 

 ones; dactylus stout, more than half the propodus; auxiliary claws 

 small, varying from one-fifth to one-fourth the length of the dactylus. 



Color blackish or sepia to nearly pure white. Length of adult speci- 

 mens 2 to 4.75 millimeters; extent of legs 15 to 30 millimeters. 



Most of the specimens from the Bay of Fundy are dark colored and 

 of large size, and differ in several other particulars from those taken in 

 Casco Bay, at Gloucester, Mass., and other southern localities. These 

 differences are so striking that I was led to describe the southern form 

 as a new species under the name PhoxichiUdium minor. Since the pub- 

 lication of that description, however, a much larger series of specimens 

 has been obtained, which shows conclusively that the two forms cannot 

 be separated, though extreme forms appear very unlike. The southern 

 form is almost always white in color, and very small, even when adult; 

 it further differs in the shai)e of the rostrum and antennse, and in being 

 more slender in nearly all respects. 



Fhoxichilidium femoratum of Northern Europe is closely similar to 

 this species, but is figured as being more slender, of a different color, 

 and with the propodus and dactylus differently armed and shaped. 

 I think it quite possible that they may be shown to be identical, but it 

 seems preferable to keej) them separate at present. The so-called 

 "species" of this genus need revision (though in this respect the genus 

 is not wholly without a parallel among the Pyenogonida), and undoubtedly 

 a large series of specimens would reduce their number. 



The observed range of P. maxillare is from Gloucester, Mass., to Hali- 

 fax, N. S. ; and in depth, from low water to 55 fathoms. At Eastport, 

 Me., it is very common under stones at or near low-water mark, and fre- 

 quently numbers of them cling to each other in a tangled mass. 



Specimens examined. 



31 F 



