484 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Family IV, NYMPHONID^. 

 Ammothea Leacli. 



Body broad, neck scarcely apparent. Eostrmn large, tapering. An- 

 tennae small, three-jointed, chelate. Palpi eight-jointed. Accessory 

 legs nine-jointed ; in the female five-jointed (?). Legs slender. Auxili- 

 ary claws present. 



Ammothea achelioides Wilson. 



Trans. Conn. Acad., vol. v, p. 16, PI. V, figs. 1 a to 1 e, July, 1878. 



Plate IV, Figures 19 and 20, 



Body very broad, oval, segments not evident, lateral processes scarcely 

 separated. Oculiferous tubercle prominent, acute; eyes dark; abdomen 

 long and very slender, bifid at the extremity. 



Eostrum large, tapering, extremity rounded. 



Antennce about three-fourths as long as the rostrum; basal joint 

 narrowest near the middle, somewhat hairj^, with one or two prominent 

 tubercles, each tipped by a slender spine ; chela with the claws very 

 slender and strongly curved, armed with a few small spines on the 

 opposable edges. 



Palpi slender, longer than the rostrum, sparsely hairy, most so on the 

 distal joints ; the first, third, and four distal joints are very short; ter- 

 minal one shortest; sixth longest; the second and foiu'th are nearly 

 equal and more than twice the basal joint. 



Accessory legs, in all the specimens examined, very short, swollen 

 and pellucid, so that the joints could with difficulty be distinguished. 

 They are composed of five joints ; a very short basal one and four other 

 longer ones ; the terminal one is tapering, smoothly rounded at the tip. 

 It seems probable that these appendages are either those of the female, 

 or of the immature male. 



Legs short, rather slender ; the three basal joints are short, followed 

 by three which are nearly equal and about as long as the three basal 

 joints united; tarsus very short; propodus gently curved, with two 

 stout spines on the inferior margin near the base, followed by a few 

 smaller ones ; dactylus nearly two-thirds the length of the propodus, 

 rather stout ; auxiliary claws two-thirds the dactylus. 



The legs are rough and hairy, the hairs usually arising from tuber- 

 cles or swellings. These tubercles are very large and aoute-conical near 

 the outer margin of the body-processes and upon the first joint of the 

 legs; on the outer joints they are smoothly rounded and less elevated, 

 often i^roducing a sinuous outline most apparent on the fourth, fifth, 

 and sixth joints. 



