~ 
Rev. A. M. Norman on the Genus Axius. 1 4 
them to agree in every particular. Mr. Spence Bate considers 
a species he has now met with to be distinct from that of 
Costa, and names it Typton spongiosus; but no character is 
given which will distinguish it from the Adriatic and Medi- 
terranean form. ‘The proportionate length of the eye and 
rostrum differs in different specimens, possibly according to 
age. In his generic characters, Mr. Bate says that the right 
hand of the second pereiopoda is generally much larger than 
the left; but the contrary would seem to be the case from the 
descriptions and figures of both Costa and Heller, and from 
the Adriatic and British examples in my own collection. In 
the genus Alpheus, however, we have seen that the rule is not 
constant, and that in the same species sometimes the one and 
sometimes the other limb will be the larger in size, and have 
the peculiar points of structure of that organ as distinguished 
from the smaller. It must, in addition to this, be borne in 
mind that in this and allied species the animals upon the 
slightest provocation are willing to part with their large claws, 
and that consequently reproduced members of smaller size are 
not uncommon, and may easily be mistaken for fully developed 
limbs. 
Hab. Polperro, Cornwall (Laughrin), Mediterranean (Costa), 
Adriatic (Grube & Heller). 
Genus AXIUS. 
I have not examined the typical specimen of Axdus sti- 
rynchus; but all the examples of Aaiws I have seen agree 
closely with the description, referred to by Mr. Bate, of the 
late Mr. R. Q. Couch (Zoologist, 1856, p. 5282) of a form 
which he considered distinct from Leach’s species. My col- 
lection. contains five specimens procured by Mr. Dodd in 
Jersey, and one taken by the Rev. R. N. Dennis, at Seaford, 
Sussex. All these have the telson quadrangular, the hands 
smooth, the fingers channelled, the particular articulation of 
cephalothorax and abdomen described by Mr. Couch, and the 
transverse lateral tufts of hair on the abdominal segments. 
All the points of difference indicated are probably at the most 
sexual. My specimens are in spirits: it is not improbable 
that, in drying, the sides of the telson would curl downwards; 
and thus that portion of the body might easily assume the 
“ elongate-triangular”’ form ascribed to it by Leach and Bell. 
At least we require further knowledge before it would be 
wise to give a distinctive name to the form in the col- 
lections of the late Mx. R. Q. Couch and myself. The young 
in this genus are much more hirsute than full-grown indivi- 
duals. 
