112. Mr.C. Spence Bate on Anomurous Crustacea. 
X.—Carcinological Gleanings. No. IV. 
By C. Spence Bare, F.R.S. &.* 
[Plates IX., X., XI. ] 
THE entrance to the English Channel appears to be the boun- 
dary or extreme limit of two distinct faunas. We find species 
that are decidedly arctic in their character represented by spe- 
cimens that have a generally depauperized appearance, both as 
to size and typical expression, while Mediterranean species are 
represented without any large amount of variation in form or 
dimensions of specimens. But my observations induce me to 
believe that the southern forms, when taken on our shores, are 
generally dredged from water of considerable depth ; whereas 
those of the arctic types are as invariably taken in shallow water. 
The variations of depth and local habitats appear to us to 
depend more upon the condition of food and its general supply 
than upon other causes; we therefore think that the geogra- 
phical distribution of animals in limited regions can only be 
worked out by a previous knowledge of the history of the ani- 
mals, particularly in relation to their food, and even then can- 
not be very reliable. 
Amongst the anomurous Crustacea I would wish to notice 
the genus that Leach has named Munéda in order to distin- 
guish it from the genus G'alathea; but the points of distinction 
are not sufficient to warrant so great a separation, and they 
appear to me to be naturally but species of one genus. 
Three fine specimens I have recently taken on the shelly 
ground off the Dudman, in about thirty fathoms of water. 
The first specimen that was obtained differed from those pre- 
viously known and described by having, instead of a long 
central rostriform spine flanked by two shorter ones of analo- 
gous construction, three equally important anteriorly porrected 
spines—this in consequence of the two lateral spines being de- 
veloped to a length corresponding with that of the central in 
normal specimens; whilst in another specimen the central 
spine appears to be rather longer in proportion to the lateral 
ones than that figured by either Leach or Prof. Bell, so that 
the specimen bears a very close relationship to G'alathea mono- 
don of Milne-Edwards from the Brazils—a circumstance that 
supports an opinion that I have elsewhere expressed, that 
there is a very considerable resemblance between the Crustacea 
of the South-American coast and that of the British seas. 
This species, Galathea bamffica (Munida Rondeletii, Bell), 
is stated to be one of the rarest of our Crustacea, and is seldom 
to be met with in our museums. Its habitat is most probably 
* Abstract, communicated by the author, from the Report of the Com- 
mittee appointed to explore the Marine Fauna and Flora of the South 
Coast of Devon and Cornwall. (Brit, Association Report for 1867, p. 275.) 
