Species of Sessile-eyed Crustaceans. 77 



branches of the other pleopoda ; its two branches are equal 

 in length, broad and thin, the upper one being as it were 

 sheathed in the lower. The spines are set rather away 

 from the edges. On the distal end of the stem three 

 spines make themselves conspicuous, a long one followed 

 by two short ones. The telson is in two pieces, which can 

 move independently ; the lower part is curved ; the upper 

 ends in a long point, preceded by a cavity and another sharp 

 tooth ; from this cavity spring two spines, a long one and a 

 short one. 



Melita gladiosa^ Spence Bate. PI. IV. figs. 2, 2 a~d. 



This species is tolerably common in the estuary at Salcombe; 

 but only the male has as yet been described. The female 

 agrees in form with the male very minutely, except in regard 

 to the second pair of gnathopods. These in the male present 

 a short wrist, but a large and broad hand with a curiously ser- 

 rated and uneven palm and a massive scimitar-like finger, all 

 much exceeding in size the corresponding parts of the first 

 gnathopods. In the female the two pairs are nearly equal : 

 both pairs in this sex have the finger pointed and simply 

 curved, the palm nearly straight and set with a row of short 

 fine hairs. The first pair have a dense fringe of fine short 

 hairs also on the hinder margins of the metacarpus, wrist, and 

 hand, such as occurs in the female of Melita ohtusata. In the 

 first pair the wrist and hand are equal and similar, both being 

 broadly oval ; the palm of the hand is scarcely defined. In 

 the second pair the palm is defined by a small tooth, the wrist 

 is about as long as that in the first pair, but not so broad ; the 

 hand is equal in breadth to that of the first pair, and about one 

 third longer. 



Both in the male and female the third segment of the tail 

 has the lower half of the hinder margin and the hinder half 

 of the lower margin serrated, just as in Megamcera Othonis of 

 Spence Bate, which the Rev. A. M. Norman has ascertained 

 to be the female of Moera longimana. 



A striking characteristic of Melita gladiosa in both sexes is 

 the dentation of the pleon. According to Bate and Westwood, 

 all the segments of the pleon, except the sixth, have the dorsal 

 surface of the posterior margin furnished with three teeth. 

 The exception is unnecessary ; for in fact the three teeth are 

 present, though much less pronounced and rather difficult to 

 observe, in the sixth segment. The telson is double, each 

 branch having a spine rising from the centre, and the upper 



