THE ANNALS 
MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
[FOURTH SERIES. ] 
No. 9. SEPTEMBER 1868. 
XV.—On the British Species of Alpheus, Typton, and Axius, 
and on Alpheus Edwardsii of Audouin. By the Rev. A. M. 
Norman, M.A. 
In the ‘Annals’ of the present month Mr. Spence Bate records 
and figures two Macrourous Crustacea as new to our fauna, 
under the names of “ Alpheus Edwardsii” and “ Typton 
spongiosus.”’ 'The former species, however, is so far from being 
hitherto unknown in our seas, that this is the third time that 
it has been announced as a new discovery ; and the Crustacean 
here called Typton spongiosus was described and figured by Mr. 
Couch, in 1861, as “ Alpheus Edwardsii.” It seems strange 
that Mr. Bate should not have known this, as the species was 
found in his own neighbourhood, and, moreover, Mr. Couch is 
one of the members of the Devon and Cornwall Dredging 
Committee. 
I should not, however, have considered it necessary to no- 
tice this, if it had not been that the greatest confusion exists 
as to what “ Alpheus Edwardsii”’ is, on which account it 
seems desirable to make a few observations upon the genera 
Alpheus and Typton. 
Savigny, in his ‘ Histoire de l’Egypte,’ admirably figured a 
Crustacean, to which Audouin, in the descriptive portion of that 
work, gave the name “‘ Athanas Kdwardsii.””. Milne-Edwards, 
in his ‘ Hist. Nat. des Crustacés,’ described a Mediterranean 
form which he erroneously considered to be Audouin’s spe- 
cies. Lastly, Mr. Couch (Proc. Linn. Soc., 1860, Zoology, v. 
p- 210) described a Cornish Crustacean under the same name ; 
but his species is neither that of Audouin nor that of Milne- 
Edwards, but the Typton spongicola of Costa. The name of 
Alpheus Edwardsii has thus been given to no less than three 
distinct species, two of which, as we shall presently see, occur 
in our seas, though the true Alpheus Edwardsvi of Audouin is 
not European. 
Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 4. Vol. ii. 13 
